The Phantoms
by zeitgeist21st
Summary: After ten years, Danny, Sam, and their fourteen-year-old daughter return to Amity Park. Originally published August 4th, 2011
1. Season One

Season One

Prologue

The town of Amity Park was relatively quiet for the duly dubbed Ghost Capital of America. True, there was always some mass of ectoplasm that would disturb the peace or start up a crime spree. But in the twenty four years that has passed since the infamous Fenton Portal sparked to life and brought forth the existence of ghosts to this once quiet town, said town has adapted to their new environment.

After the incident that brought all the nations _and _dimensions together to save their skins, which bears a name in history as the Phantom Planet, the two worlds finally come to realize that the brave and noble hero that had saved each of them countless times (mostly from each other) was nothing more that a fourteen year old boy from a nowhere town in the Great Lakes.

Realizing that, the adults felt little embarrassed.

The world, Amity Park especially, decided to finally learn self-sufficiency when it comes to ghost attacks and chose the Fentons to teach them to do that.

From that the Thirteenth Precinct, as well the Federal Bureau of Ghostly Affairs was created.

With Detective Valarie Gray heading the department they were able to keep a steady balance on ghosts crimes. They also had Danny Phantom to thank for that in the beginning but Detective Gray was too stubborn to even mouth the words in her former adversary's direction.

In the past ten years the Thirteenth Precinct had fewer and fewer caseloads to worry about as the ghosts seemed to have magically stayed on their best behavior. Only Valarie knew that the new peace was for two reasons. The first was that Fenton Portal II, the Ghost Portal Jack Fenton had made after Danny had trashed the first one, was once again destroyed beyond all recognition but this time there was no one around to rebuild it. The second is that the Phantoms, or Fentons as it is written on their birth and marriage certificates, had moved away ten years ago.

Both facts share the same sad story behind them, and she was the first to arrive when the call was made and she was the first to discover… what happened.

But that was ten years ago, at present Valarie is getting a call on her personal cell. She doesn't often get calls on her personal cell because not many people have the number. She gives out the number to people very close to her, so when it rings she knows it's important. Pulling her head from her work, Detective Gray picked put the phone and looked at the caller ID. _Danny._ With a smile she answered the phone

"Hey Fenton," She said, "its been a while"

"Hey Detective," Danny teased, "how's the haunt without me there to protect it?"

"Fine actually, it's a lot more quiet without you zipping around with Skulker on your ghostly tail. I actually miss the action part of my job."

"Glad to hear that, we've got news that we wanted to tell you and Tuck together. But since you hardly speak to each other anymore we decided to tell you at the same time. Sam's on her phone telling Tucker."

"Telling him what?" She said, but somehow she figured out the news before he had to tell her.

"The Fentons are moving back to Amity Park!"

When she heard that an explosion of emotions went off in her head. True, she was on good terms with Phantom after she found out that he was her ex-boyfriend. She actually became good friends with him and Sam after time. But she still had that uncomfortable felling when she pictures the ghost boy, now a ghost man, flying around town without her in pursuit.

"That's great!" Valarie said with slight hesitance, luckily Danny couldn't detect it. "When?"

"Two days," Danny replied, "we are planning packing everything in the Speeder and getting done when people are at work."

"Afraid of a good old fashioned fan riot on your doorstep" She said with a smirk.

"We thought we'd try not to drop a heavy workload on your team on our first day"

"You want me to help you move?"

"No we got that covered, but if you could bring over the paperwork that would be great. We want to get that over with as soon as possible."

The Bystander contract, Valarie knew, was the paperwork Phantom had to sign every time he moved into a new town, or in this case old town. The legal jargon is easily translated to: "because I have ghost powers, I have to help the police catch ghost criminals." What surprised her the most was that he said "we" instead of "I". Danny was the only one who had to sign it as he was the only "able bodied, ghost-human hybrid of immense power" around. Unless…

"I'm guessing she's going past the basics?" Valarie said, trying to hide her anxiety.

"They came in when she reached puberty, they had her sign it here when they caught her skipping school while presenting her project at the same time."

"How does that fair with her?"

"You'll see for yourself, come in at one. We'll have everything set up by then." and he hung up.

Valarie placed the phone on her desk and stared at it for a while.

The Fentons are coming back to Amity Park, bringing over all their ghostly adversaries with them and making her job a lot harder. She can handle the ghosts just fine, she actually missed her days flying around town in a jet sled shooting down all the baddies in her red jumpsuit. The real trouble was having Phantom join the force, stealing her spotlight, being admired by the city for breaking every ruled and expensive building in sight. Phantom …and his daughter.


	2. The New Girl

The students of Casper High ended school at the same time as they always had, with or without a ghost drill to hinder their schedule. Most of the student body split in half, one dispersed into the Amity Mall to start their afternoon of labor or patronage; the other went to the Nasty Burger to do somewhat the same thing.  
To them it was just another Tuesday.

For those who live on Willow Street, it was not a normal Tuesday. It was the day that 648 became occupied. The kids on the street looked at the cars parked and empty boxes in the garage and drive way with curiosity, but only six on them went over to the house to feed it. One of the six was Owen, who live right next door in 646. The only division of the two houses was an old wooden fence that stood about seven feet high. At the five's request, Owen lead the way into his backyard and to the fence. The six of them gathered some crates from the tool shed and each climbed on one to looked over the fence. Luckily, the crates only got them high enough that only the upper halves of their faces showed through, nothing anyone would notice as long as they were quiet

In the back yard of 648 there was green grass and an old apple tree, brown and lifeless with age and dehydration. Leaning against the tool shed was a white moped, and in front of it was sleek but small aircraft, no bigger than an SUV, with the Fenton Works logo on the side and the words "Fenton Specter Speeder" written on the side. On the bumper there is a sticker indicating that vehicle is Eco-friendly, as it had an engine that runs off of ectoplasm.

"That's a Specter Speeder," said a boy in the group "that thing fully capable of traveling into the Ghost Zone with a Mach five top speed!"

"We can read you know." said a girl.

"And everyone knows what a Specter Speeder is," said another girl, "police fly around in those all the time."

"Yeah but this one doesn't look like it belongs to the police." said the third boy in the group.

"Well who else would have a Speeder?" said the third girl.

"Who ever it is should pretty awesome neighbors." said Owen,

Just then the back door to 648 opened and a young girl walked out with supplies in her hands. The girl was no taller than five feet with a long mass of black hair that at the moment hid her face from the six teens. She looked like she was either twelve or fourteen, but honestly none of them could tell. Her clothes consisted of a knee length black dress with black lace tights and black lace up boots. Where the long sleeves ended there were black lace-up fingerless gloves revealing purple polish on her long fingernails.

"Great, like we don't have enough Goths in our class!" said one of the girls in as much outraged she can cram into a whisper.

"Are you familiar with the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover'?" Owen said to the girl.

"See how you fare after her depressing music and poetry floods into your room every night"

"Abi, shut it!" one of the boys said. The girl in black did not seem to pay attention has she appeared to be planning to build something in the middle of the vast lawn. She measured an area and wrote them down in her little not tablet. She then zoned it out with stakes and string to be built later. After that she finally noticed the apple tree dying in the corner.

"That just won't do," the kids in Owens yard heard her say, "not at all if I can help it."

She walked over to the tree and placed her gloved palm on the thick trunk. Just then the tree glowed as life flowed back into the limbs. The branches grew leaves and then pink blossoms soon followed. The blossoms then grew into bright red apples, one of them falling into her hand. She then promptly took a bite and smiled.

"Red delicious, my favorite!"

"Whoa" was all they could say at the moment, simultaneously.

The six teens stared on in shock. Obviously they have seen weird stuff before, they live in Amity Park out of all places. In the ghost capital of the world, weirdness should be nothing to them. But never have they seen a Goth girl with magic tree reviving hands.

"The tree"

"Wasn't it just dead?"

"It was"

"She brought it to life!"

"With just a touch"

"My twitter page is going to explode when I post about this!"

"Congratulations Owen" Abi said sardonically, " you not only have a Goth, but a spooky plant witch for a next door neighbor."

"Hey! The spooky plant witch has a name you know!"

With that the six teens jumped and then turned to the girl in black, now standing right behind them in Owens yard.

Her arms were crossed as her eyes glared at them critically and her purple lips bent into a mischievous smirk.

"It's not cool to trespass." Owen said.

"I would say the same thing about voyeurism." she said with a tone to match her smile.

"We jus wanted to see the new neighbors." said Owen, apparently appointed as the spokesperson to the group.

"That's what a front door is for, you knock on it and introduce yourself and they introduce themselves. You learn a lot more from it than you can from standing on a crate."

The six looked at each other anxiously and then back at the girl.

"If you want I can bring my parents out here for you to meet them. My godmother is here, too. I believe she's the precinct captain, you guys might have an interesting chat."

"No, no, that's fine. We don't have to meet our makers just yet!" Owen said worried.

The girl finally broke out in a fit of laughter at the sight of the six trembling teens.

"Dude! Chill, I'm just messing with you. But if you guys do want to see my new house, I'll be more than happy to show you around. Incarceration free."

With a sigh of relief they accepted her offer.

"My name is Ophelia, by the way. Ophelia Fenton."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Owen, the girl who called you a plant witch is Abi. And this is, Darcy, Wal, Em, and Mick"

"Did you say your name is Fenton?" said the boy Owen referred to as Wal.

_Here we go again, _Ophelia thought as she rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"Do your parents happen to be Daniel and Samantha Fenton?"

"Most people just call them Danny and Sam, or Mr. Fenton and Ms. Manson for formality's sake."

_Here it comes..._

Ophelia plugged her ears.

_"_YOUR DAD IS DANNY PHANTOM!" exclaimed Wal

"YOUR A PHANTOM!" exclaimed Darcy.

"I LIVE NEXT DOOR TO DANNY PHANTOM!" said Owen excitedly.

Ophelia took her fingers out of her ears as she answered the same questions she was given since she had the ability to speak.

"Yes, my dad is the super hero Danny Phantom. But he prefers the name Danny Fenton at work and in human form. No, the word "phantom" is nowhere near my birth certificate so I prefer it that you call me Ophelia Fenton. And if this is your house" she pointed to Owen's house, "then logic says that you are our new neighbors as we are yours. If you guys are going to go fanatic on me and my family then you can just stay on those crates as I bring out Detective Gray."

"We'll be good."

"We promise."

"We just need to get it out of our systems."

Ophelia shot them a glare with her emerald eyes and then smiled. "Okay," she said, "I'll go back in my house and pretend this didn't happen. Then as soon as you're done screaming your heads off, then you can walk over and introduce yourselves properly. But if you guys wig out in front of my dad, I will kick you out." As she said that she walked through the fence, across the yard and opened the door into her house. As soon as she shut the door she can hear them go into an all out fan fit. No matter how many times she heard that sound and see the fits, they were always hilarious.

After they had cooled down the six teens left Owen's house and walked into the front door of the Fenton's house. Owen then rang the doorbell. A woman answered the door. She was about five six with similar features to Ophelia, with the exception of her black hair cut into a bob and her eyes were lilac and not green. The group accurately assumed that she was Sam Manson.

"Hello, can I help you?" Said Sam.

Owen Once again spoke for the group. "Um..Hi, I'm Owen Dodgson. I live in the house next door to yours. And my friends here live on the same street. We saw someone had moved in and thought would we would be the first to welcome you to the neighborhood."

Sam smiled the same mischievous smile as her daughter and then spoke. "Ophelia caught you looking from over the fence?"

"Pretty much" Owen said as they all blushed and looked at the ground.

"Leave it to her to spot the neighbors before we do," Sam then into the house and called for her daughter. "Ophelia, your friends are here."

"Already?" Ophelia then appeared right by her mother in no time flat, "I thought you guys would take hours to chill out. Why don't I show you guys around?"

As Ophelia led her red-cheeked peers inside, Sam asked her friends if they needed any refreshments.

"No thanks, you just moved here. We don't want you guys rooting though all your stuff just for us."

"Actually, we have everything unpacked. We've been here since nine and some of us" motioning to Ophelia who sports a jovial grin, " are psychokinetic so this stuff is a breeze for us."

"Oh, um... no. Thank you, anyway."

"Any time."

The next morning Ophelia got up and ready for her first day at Casper High. Today Ophelia dressed in a green long-sleeved t-shirt and red jeans. She wore red bangles and converse that were hidden under the long pant legs. Her long black hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, her bangs swept a little below her eyebrows. Around her neck was her lucky charm: a pair of goggles with red lenses. The lens of the left eye was cracked slightly in the upper right corner. That crack reminds her of the day the goggles saved her life and she never repaired them worrying the good luck would go away if she did.

Ophelia headed down the stairs and into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Morning Sweetie," her mother said at the counter.

"Morning Ophelia," her father said as he was making breakfast.

"Good morning Mom and Dad. What's for breakfast?"

"I thought I'd make french toast for your first day." As he said that he placed a plate of them in front of her. She ate them delightedly.

"Ophelia, do you want me to drive your to school today?" Sam said as she drank her tea.

"No thank you, I thought I would blade down there. Em has a pair and said we could go down there together."

"How is it that it's not even your first day of school and you already had six friends?" Her dad said.

She shrugged and said, "I just have that aura, I guess. I better go. She's waiting outside for me." In no time flat the doorbell rang proving her right.

She went to the doorway and grabbed her blades. "Bye Mom and Dad, have a nice day at work." and then abruptly left.

Danny and Sam looked at the door and then at each other.

"Do you thinks she'll have a nice day at school?" said Sam.

"She always makes the day interesting." Danny said.

"When do you think we should tell her?" Sam said.

"As soon as Valarie and I can prove my theory right."

"Do you think he will go after her again?"

"Knowing him, he'll have something up his sleeve. And it will be for all of us."

Em and Ophelia got there twenty minutes early, enough time for Ophelia to get to the office to retrieve her new schedule and to the library to gather all the textbooks she'll need for the semester. Luckily, Ophelia had homeroom with Em who showed her to their classroom.

When they entered the classroom, Ophelia nonchalantly slipped her teacher her note from the office and found a desk by Em. Once class started, however, the teacher reassigned her to a seat by the window as another student occupied her previous desk.

"Class," said the teacher after the bell rang, "I'd like you to meet our new student. Ms. Fenton, please come up here." he motioned Ophelia to stand right next to him. Reluctantly, she did so as she heard whispers from the other students.

"Class, I'd like you to meet Miss Ophelia Fenton. She just moved here from Evendale and is now joining our class."

"Thank you, Mr..."

"I am Mr. Tesla, I will be your Science teacher for the rest of the year."

"Tesla, like the electric engineer?" She asked.

"Yes, now you know why I'm a physics teacher" he said sarcastically." Now class, you showed know her family very well. Her father is none other than Danny Phantom, the superhero who graduated from this very school. You should be very lucky to be amongst her presence."

At that the entire class stared at her wide-eyed, their eyes even wider with astonishment as Ophelia disappeared before their very eyes in anxiety.

"Am I going to go through that everyday?" asked Ophelia to Em as headed to the cafeteria.

"Don't know, are you going to turn invisible every time someone mentions the name Phantom?" Em replied.

"Sorry, I do that when I'm nervous."

"Your lucky that we get ghosts flying through here from time to time or we would have an epic freak out."

"Yeah, I know. I've turning invisible since birth. I've seen a lot of freak outs in my day."

They were about to enter the cafeteria when a bulky guy in a letter jacket stopped them.

"Hey Phantom, want to come eat with the in-crowd?" said the guy with a smile.

"If you are the in-crowd than no thank you, I've already made plans."

The guy frowned. "Why wouldn't you want to be popular, you've got all the credentials for it."

She flashed her green eyes in annoyance, "And that would be...?"

"Well you seem to have talent, and you've got connections."

"That translates to me as 'you've got ghost powers and your dad is Danny Phantom'"

"And that's a problem?"

"My name is Ophelia _Fenton,_ not Phantom. Get that through your head. I am not a superhero and I don't have archenemies, nor do I want any. And I've never met you until now, but I know that's only what you think of me as. So if you don't mind me, my friend and I will be eating lunch with our other friends." They walked away, leaving Letter Jacket dumbfounded and enraged.

"What makes you think that they will treat you any differently?" He shouted at her.

She then turned around and flashed her green eyes. "They've been in my house, they've met both my parents, and they've seen some of my powers. All that and they never called me Phantom. And also," she blinked and her green eyes vividly glowed from under her bangs. "I am a great judge of character, Lucien."

"That's Luke!" But people were already laughing at the new and embarrassing knowledge of their favorite quarterback.

Once they got their lunch, Ophelia and Em sat with their five friends. Abi looked up surprised at Ophelia's outfit.

"I thought you were a Goth."

Ophelia looked down at her clothes.

"Oh no, I just dress like that sometimes. I have and eclectic taste in clothes."

"So you wear a different thing everyday?" Abi asked.

"Yeah, most people do that." Ophelia replied sarcastically.

"How did you know Luke's real name?" Owen asked.

Realizing what she had just done Ophelia looked away. "I, um, saw his name on a file while I was in the office this morning."

Owen suspected something but shrugged it off. "I guess that makes sense."

Em then asked another question. "So, you knew we were there when brought that tree to life?"

Ophelia looked nervous and stared intently at her lunch. "No, I only realized you were there when I heard Abi call me a plant witch. That's a pretty self-explanatory statement."

"Which I apologize for by the way." Abi chimed in.

"It's okay, I've heard worse. Not everyone outside of Amity Park are okay with ghosts, some still refuse to acknowledge their existence. While others treat ghosts like second-class citizens. We made sure to stay far away from those places."

Darcy then finally asked what was on her mind since yesterday.

"So, you can walk through solid matter, turn invisible, move objects with a thought and revive dead foliage. What else can you do?"

She nearly choked on her milk when she heard this. She never liked this question, even if it's the most frequently asked.

"You know, the same stuff you see my dad and other ghosts do."

Darcy was suspicious at that but just as she was going to press her on, a blue wisp drew out of Ophelia's mouth.

"What was that?" Owen asked.

"You said you get a lot of ghosts around her, right? Well, I just sensed one." She said and returned to her meal.

"A ghost is here!" Wal said, "At our school!"

"Relax, I can tell he's a block, he's most likely after my dad anyway." She then looked up to see a missile heading straight for her.

"Or not, pardon me." she said as placed on her lucky goggles. She flew out of the table, through the wall and towards the missile.

When she was ten feet away from the approaching missile, Ophelia threw an energy ball right at the nose causing it to explode mid-flight fifty feet in the air.

"Crisis averted, now back to my lu-" An ecto-net grabbing cut her off from her sentence and pulled her towards a familiar ghost in a robotic suit.

"Welcome back to Amity Park, Whelp," said Skulker, "how's your first day of school?"

"Skulker! Why are you going after me, I thought I was too young to be your prey." She then materialized a knife out of ghost energy and slashed through the net.

"True enough, but you're never too young to be Skulker's bounty!" He shot a rocket but she used an ecto-shield to deflect it.

"Bounty? Who would want to kill me without the pleasure of doing it themselves?"

She shot a ghost ray at Skulker, which hit him hard against a building. _Great, _thought Ophelia_, first day of school and I am already causing property damage_.

Skulker then got back on his feet.

"There are hundreds of ghosts that would want to kill you for revenge on Danny Phantom, I am one of them. But my honor code as a hunter keeps me from hunting a defenseless and under developed prey."

"But hit men don't abide by any codes, do they?"

"Smart girl" He tossed a grenade at her that immediately exploded right where she stood.

"Smart enough to take you down." Skulker heard her say from behind. Ophelia then materialized an electrically charged machete and hack off all of his mechanical limbs.

"Do you know how hard it is to build a suit like this from scratch!"

"Do you know how little I care?" Ophelia then hacked off the robotic head. The machete dematerialized and Ophelia grabbed the head as the torso flew off into the sky. Ophelia took aim with her free hand and shot the torso and watch it explode over Casper High. _Fireworks, I'll be the girl who creates fireworks during lunch._

"And now back to the question at hand," Ophelia said as he shook the little ghost out of the head and into her hand. "If you didn't come here as a hunter, who hired you as a hit man?"

Skulker tiny mouth formed into an evil little grin. "An old client of mine. It's been a long time and he wants to see you again."

The red lenses of Ophelia's goggles hid the fear in her eyes. "He's back?"

"No, actually _your_ back. He never left hoping you would come back. I didn't think your family would be foolish enough."

Anger appeared as her eyes glowed green through the thick red lenses. With a wave of her hand a portal appeared in front of her revealing a ghost proof holding cell in the Thirteenth Precinct.

"Tell that to the Police!" She flicked Skulker through the portal and both disappeared.

She flew back to the cafeteria invisibly and set herself back to her seat with her lunch in front of her. Her friends looked at her awkwardly as the rest of the cafeteria cheered. They saw it all through the window. Only her friends were able to see her worried expression through her hair as she picked at her salad.

Owen broke the ten minute silence, "Uh... is everything okay?"

As if awoken from a daze Ophelia looked up from her salad. "Huh? Oh, yeah. That was just Skulker, he plagues my dad a lot. I guess he decided I was old enough to hunt down like a wild animal."

"Does that happen a lot?" Darcy asked.

"No, not to me anyway. The bad guys seem to keep their distance from me, they don't think it good for their reputation to eliminate a poor defenseless child."

"Did something happen?" Owen persisted,

"Yeah, a deadly criminal tried to waste me at my new school."

"Other than that."

Ophelia didn't speak anymore, but finished her salad and left the table for the next class. Owen watched her leave with curiosity.

_What isn't she telling us?_

Ophelia was able to avoid Owen and the rest of her kids and teleported to Danny's workplace, a space station right above Nova Scotia. An irritated coworker announced her arrival.

"Your kid is here, Fenton."

"Thanks, I can handle it from here." He led Ophelia to his office and set her down on the sofa by his desk.

"How was your first day of school Honey?" He asked, immediately knowing the answer.

"Teacher treated me like a celebrity, popular kids tried to use me as a poker chip, the usual." She was lying on the sofa playing with objects too light to be affected by the room's gravity stabilizer. "You know what wasn't usual? Skulker tried to kill me during lunch."

"I thought he said he wouldn't hunt you down until your old enough to be worthy prey?" Danny said, surprised only by the timing and not the attack.

"Oh no." Ophelia replied, "not Skulker, Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. I was nearly killed by Skulker, Ghost Zone's notorious hit man. Apparently assassins don't have age restrictions."

"Who hired him?" Danny pretended to be surprised. He knew who hired him to go after his daughter and he knew exactly why.

"I think we both know the answer to that question, Dad." She drew her attention away from the floating paper clips, showing him her angry yet hurt expression. "Why didn't you tell me _he_ was here?"

"I didn't know for sure he was here at all. I had Valarie look into it, and of course the Observants have Walker's police force scouring throughout all the Ghost Zone looking for him."

"I guess it takes a gun to a loved one's head for you to figure out that a place is unsafe!" She was trying not to scream. They had this problem before ten years ago. It's what causes them to leave Amity Park in the first place, it's what destroyed Fenton Portal II, and it's what left the crack on her goggles.

"I would never take you or your mother anywhere if I didn't think it was safe. I love you two far too much to put you at risk." He walked over to Ophelia who promptly sat up to give him a spot on the sofa. He put his arm around her had gave her a small hug. "If anything happens, I'll make sure you are safe. I'll never let IT happened again."

He got up from the sofa and went to the intercom.

"Bolton, I'm calling it in early, can you guys handle everything yourselves."

"Sure thing." said a voice from the intercom, "stay on call just in case."

"Alright, Fenton over and out." He picked up his work for home and went up to Ophelia. "Let's get home, I'll cook your favorite for dinner."

"Isn't it my turn to do the cooking tonight?" She asked.

"It's not everyday that you defeat Skulker single-handedly."

With that they vanished from the space station.


	3. Smoke and Mirrors

"Explain to me again why we are watching a magic show." Ophelia demanded of Em who was forcefully dragging her into the Presto Theatre.

"You said you've never been to one, I thought you would like to see one. I actually study magic here on the weekends."

"Really? let me see something." Honestly, Ophelia didn't really care about magic. But maybe if she could get her hyped enough she wouldn't notice if Ophelia made a disappearance off stage when the show started.

"Certainly." a glittery wand "magically" appeared in her hand, and waved it around. She tapped her free hand and a flower appeared on her palm.

"Amazed?" Em asked her audience of one.

"I would if I couldn't see the little pockets inside your sleeves." said Ophelia with a smirk.

"Awww, you could've at least acted amazed."

"Sorry, but when you can actually fly, makes things appear and disappear out of the air, it's hard to be 'amazed'. Makes you see through all the fakes."

"Then the Fantastic Finn will be a great challenge for you." Em motioned to a poster of the Fantastic Finn. He was a grown man appearing to be in his mid-thirties, he had slick black hair and a black curly-q mustache that made Ophelia have to suppress a giggle. In the poster he wore a black tuxedo accessorized with the stereotypical whites gloves, black cape with red lining, a black top hat, and a red carnation in his lapel. In the poster he was waving a wand and making everything around him float like there was no gravity. "He's is the greatest magician alive or dead. Everyone has tried to discover the illusion but failed. Skeptics, scientists, even fellow magicians have tried to no avail. I bet Houdini's ghost could be outwitted by the likes of The Fantastic Finn." Ophelia looked with an incredulous raise of her eyebrow. She turned to her friend with a couple of stray giggles.

"Are you sure your not over-selling him?"

Em smiled at the non-believer "All right, how about we make a wager? If you can out him as a fake, I'll finish our science project solo."

"And if I somehow can't?" Ophelia said doubtlessly.

Em smiled as menacingly as she could. "You will have to go to Comic-Con with Mick and Wal this summer.."

"Is that all?"

"You didn't let me finish. You have to go to Comic-Con... in the Ghost Girl suit!" her mischievous grin grew wider.

Ophelia faded with flushed cheeks. Even before the Phantom Planet, Danny Phantom still had fans. More than enough doubled as comic book fanatics, turning the infamous Ghost Boy into a comic book hero fighting against his fictional adversaries. One of these comic books was published by a big time company and was sold worldwide after Phantom Planet. When Ophelia was born, the comic book predicted that she would become her father's sidekick, dubbing her Ghost Girl. This pulp fiction phantom donned a costume two pom-poms shy of a cheerleading uniform. Every year, the comic book company would ask her to promote their book by going to Comic-con in the suit, offering a large sum that grew with every year they offered. The rest of the year the fans of this book would press her to wear it for Halloween or their own design that were even worse to a point that Ophelia could not restrain laughter. Ophelia hated the suit because it was atrocious and that it symbolized a part of the world that could only see her as a future super-hero, and with poor taste in clothing at that.

Ophelia flashed her green eyes bright enough to illuminate the two in neon green. "I accept your challenge." she said with a smile.

When they went into the theater, a little blue wisp escaped from Ophelia's mouth. She looked around and saw nothing, she felt the ghost close by. _Probably just a ghost going out for a fly. _Ophelia thought. _If not Dad and Valarie can handle it themselves._

* * *

The Presto Theatre was pretty small even for a magic theatre; it can only hold thirty in an audience at a time. A full house for one night in this theatre reflects nothing on the magician's performance, but a sold out performance for generations to come can. Em dragged Ophelia to the front row and squeezed her between her and a man who should seriously switch to diet. She was practically freezing in her seat by how cold the theatre was for her. When she found no warmth in tucking as much of her legs she could fit under her calf-length skirt, she tried to stuff the rest in her rather large aviator jacket. _Hating this already. _She thought, trying not to disappear before the show even started.

"How long is the show supposed to go for?" Ophelia asked her overly enthusiastic friend.

"Only for an hour, but I also got us passes to meet him." With a snap of her fingers, two backstage passes appeared in Em's hands.

Ophelia tried to hold back her irritation. "How did you get those? I thought it was a stretch for you to get just the tickets."

"Let's just say working in a magic theatre has its perks."

_Joy, _Ophelia thought,_ now I'm going to have to watch a cheesy show and meet the fake._

At that moment, the lights dimmed and the curtains opened. A spotlight shone on a spot of the stage as a puff of smoke hid the magician being elevated from a trap door. _Seriously!_

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I am the Fantastic Finn. I have placed it upon myself to entertain you for tonight. When I am done here you will be left in complete awe of tonight's performance."

_I am in complete awe that Em paid tickets to see this glitterball. _Ophelia thought.

The Fantastic Finn snapped his fingers and a wand dropped into his hands from mid air, astounding the audience. With a wave of his wand a crystal orb floated in front of him. "I shall use this crystal ball to decide who will be my first volunteer. Ah, here we go" he pressed his fingers to a part of the crystal ball and out of a puff of smoke a surprised young man appeared next to the Fantastic Finn.

"Young man, do you wish to assist me in my first trick?" said the magician in a professional manner.

"Um, I guess. I'm already up here." replied the man.

"Good, just lay down on the table under the rows of jagged spikes."

"Okay, wait WHAT?"

Before the guy knew it, he was strapped onto said table as the magician turned a wheel pulling the spikes higher above the petrified man. A black curtain separated the man from audience but put the spikes were very visible.

"These spikes," Fantastic Finn explained, "are made of pure steel. Sharpened to cut through anything, especially flesh and bone. I will cut this rope," he pointed to the rope that held up the spikes as he held an equally sharp hatchet. "and the spikes will plummet onto the poor young man. He will most likely perish. On the count of three: One...two...THREE!"

The Fantastic Finn swung the hatchet, cutting the rope. The spikes dropped down and a loud crash heard behind the curtain. There were screams and then dead silence at what they had just witnessed. Finn took off his cape and held it up next to him. When he dropped his cape, the young man appeared, visibly shaken at his near death experience. The crowd went ballistic.

"Big thanks to my volunteer." Exclaimed the Fantastic Finn. "Sorry about that, hope you're not shaken to bad."

The young man nodded his head in assurance and walked off the stage. The audience applauded as the front row glowed a furious green.

* * *

The show went on with the same amount of applause for the Fantastic Finn and his stellar tricks. An hour later, he announced his last trick.

"I shall need one last volunteer from the audience." As soon as he spoke a hand appeared front the front row. It was Ophelia, with a deviant little grin.

"Ophelia, don't." Em whispered, but it was too late. Ophelia startled the magician as she appeared on stage in a green mist.

"I volunteer myself for your final act, Mr. Finn." Ophelia said trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Uh, very well." The magician said while trying to make out the mysterious young girl. "Stand inside that box, if you please."

He directed her into a box with three doors aligned one on top of the other. Once Ophelia was inside, Fantastic Finn closed her in with locks and turned the box. Where he should have stood on the other side stood Ophelia wearing his hat.

"As you can see," Ophelia said, mockingly, "this is just an ordinary three compartment box. Lets see what happens if we pull the boxes apart."

Ophelia then pulled the middle box from the stack and opened it, showing Finn's torso. She opened another to show his legs with a jocular wolf whistle. She pushed the top box to the direction opposite the torso box and opened it to reveal the red-faced head of the Fantastic Finn.

"Young lady!" Exclaimed Finn's outraged head, "If you don't stop fooling around this instant..!" Ophelia shut the door before he can finish the threat.

"Aww, it's okay Mr. Finn." Ophelia said in jest. "No need to fall to pieces." The audience laughed at the cheesy pun. _Seriously?_

She then pushed the boxes back together and gave it a hard push with one hard, leaving it to spin rapidly. She stopped the box and opened the door to let out the very dizzy Fantastic Finn. The audience clamoring with laughter and applause

_"_A big round of applause to Mr. Finn everyone!" Ophelia gave herself a few seconds for the roar of applause to die down. "And an even greater round of applause for his lovely assistant."

Ophelia gestured her hand, now glowing green like her eyes, to the air over the audience's head. At that moment the empty space glowed green and formed the shape of a human being. The green glow stopped the reveal a ghost floating over the audience, wide-eyed in surprise. She looked to be a little older than Ophelia and Em_, _about eighteen or nineteen. She had bright orange hair in a short bob cut that seemed like fire against her bluish-white skin. She was wearing a tuxedo shirt-like leotard with a red sash and bow tie and gold coat with tails. On her head was a little gold top hat with a red band; on her legs were fishnet tights with two inch spat style heels.

"Without her," Ophelia continued, "none of this would have been possible. Thank you all, but my friend has to go home to finish our project. Good night and have a safe drive home." Ophelia disappeared from the stage in the same green mist as before, leaving the audience stunned at what just happened. Em buried her face in her hands in embarrassment as she tried to sneak out of the theater without being noticed.

* * *

Outside she met Ophelia twirling around Fantastic Finn's hat.

_"_What did you do that for!" Em yelled.

_"_He was taking credit for someone else's work, he has been this whole time. I couldn't just sit there and let him get away with it. Someone had to teach him a lesson and I thought I should."

_"_By humiliating him in front of his audience? Don't tell me you weren't having fun!" Em was outraged that her close friend had just ousted her favorite magician as a fraud. She was more outraged that she lost a bet with said friend and had to work on Tesla's evil project all by herself.

Ophelia smiled her mischievous little smile "Who ever said that lessons couldn't be fun for the teacher? Let's go home, if you want you can come over to my house for dinner. My mom's cooking tofu steak tonight."

"Sure I'll come over," Em said, "_after_ you go over and apologize to Fantastic Finn!"

"Why do I have to apologize to the Fantastic Fraud for?" Ophelia said wit a groan. "If anything I should apologize to that poor girl for putting her in the spot!"

"You can apologize to both of them if you want. All I know is that I paid to meet the Fantastic Finn, and I'm going to meet the Fantastic Finn with _you_ in tow." Em grabbed Ophelia by the arm and dragged back to the theatre. Ophelia didn't go intangible because she knew Em was right. That and in her two short weeks in Casper High, she found Em to hold heinous grudges.

* * *

Backstage, a crew of people was cleaning up after the show. Glitter was being swept and rabbits were being put back into cages. Two of them were resetting the spike table and another was inspecting the three-door box to see if Ophelia tampered with it at all. As Em and Ophelia were being led to Fantastic Finn's dressing room by the stage manager, Ophelia's eyes were met with evil glares of the crew. Ophelia tried not to turn invisible on her walk of shame.

Like all the clichés, Finn's dressing room had a red door with a gold star that had _The Fantastic Finn_ engraved. Ophelia scowled at the door as the stage manager knocked on the door. The door opened and Em dragged Ophelia in.

"Excuse me, sir. " The stage manager said, glaring at Ophelia. "_She's_ here with a friend."

The Fantastic Finn pulled his attention from the mirrors of his dressing room to analyze the girls. He gave Ophelia the respectful glare of a defeated chess player, accepting the defeat but yet unable to understand the manner of it. "Well, well," said Mr. Finn, " If it isn't the girl that ruined my infallible reputation. What brings you here?"

Ophelia avoided eye contact until Em elbowed her into his direction. Her eyes glowed, but the lights of the dressing room mirrors neutralized the emerald light. "I came here to apologize to your assistant." She told the fraud.

"_And_ you, Mr. Finn." Em added in giving Ophelia an angered look. "She just wanted to show me how the trick worked and ... got a little carried away when she figured out. She didn't mean to humiliate you to that extreme "

"Sure, that's what happened." Ophelia muttered as she turned herself intangible to avoid Em's elbow.

"Not to worry," Replied the magician, "You did something in an hour thousands have spent years trying to do. I bet if any of my competitors were in your position, they would have done a lot worse."

"Twenty seconds." Ophelia replied.

"Pardon?" Fantastic Finn's composure was starting to falter.

"It took me twenty seconds to see through the ruse. I thought it would be more polite to expose you at the end of the performance so people wouldn't be demanding refunds."

Ophelia noticed a slight twitch of rage in the magician's complexion, but Em didn't seem to notice a thing. Fantastic Finn was about to lose it but somehow he was able to control himself.

"How... considerate of you." Finn responded with much restraint. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to know what gave away my little helper."

Ophelia was about to speak when her ghost sense went off and the ghostly assistant appeared next to the magician. The ghost and the magician was a bit surprised at the sight of the wisp of cold air, Em was a little used to it so all she did was blink.

"That's how," Ophelia exclaimed pointing at her mouth. "I can sense ghosts when they are near by. As soon as you did your first trick, I sensed her on stage and where she pulled the guy from the audience."

The magician's mustache twitched as his eyes narrowed in confusion. The ghost companion seemed to recognize the raven-haired youth but seemed unable to put her finger on it. Em finally broke the silence and their concentration.

"She's half ghost." Em explained, "All that stuff she did on stage was her _abusing_ her powers."

"Ah, yes." Said the Fantastic Finn. "Then that must make you the daughter of the world famous Danny Phantom." Ophelia gave a reluctant nod. "Beatrice here was actually one of the ghosts who helped your father save the planet. Weren't you in Antarctica to turn the planet intangible?"

"It was actually the North Pole, sir." Beatrice replied hesitantly.

"Ah yes, right" replied the magician. Beatrice seemed to release some tension at the confirmation, making Ophelia raise an eyebrow.

"So Beatrice," Ophelia said, "I'm sorry for startling you like that. I know that must not have been something you would have cared for."

"It's o-" was all Beatrice could say before Fantastic Finn had cut her off.

"It was nothing we couldn't handle. Like I said, it could have been worse."

Ophelia's eyes flashed angrily at the magician, this time her furious glow out-shined the dressing room lights.

"I don't think I was talking to you. And I know its part of the act for people not knowing she does all the work, but do you credit her for _any _of her work _at all?_"

The magician glared at the half ghost in disapproval. "She doesn't need credit, she's dead."

"She has a voice of her own!" Ophelia was outraged at his statement, "What is her cut of this deal, anyway? Half of the profit? A place to stay?"

"Beatrice does not need anything," Fantastic Finn responded, "she gets to float around and do all her ghostly things and I get wealth and notoriety. I think it's a great deal."

The whole room turned a vicious green from Ophelia's furious eyes. "I have heard a lot of things in my day, but is the most insensitive thing I have ever had the displeasure of falling onto my ears! According to you, as soon as they have an epitaph their opinions don't matter! How does that even makes sense! I don't think anyone would agree to that! Beatrice," Ophelia drew her attention from the man and to the quiet apparition in the corner. "are you willingly working for this man? My godmother is with the police and my mom's the ADA, I can help you press charges if this isn't a voluntary agreement."

Beatrice looked at the ground and then at the young girls. She was about to speak and then vanished without a single explanation. The magician turned to the two girls, fuming as he had done on stage. He called in the security and they appeared at the door waiting to escort the girls.

"I have had enough of you two girls trying to ruin my career. You either leave immediately or these gentlemen shall have to use force. I never want to see you two near this theatre again!"

The guards pulled the girls from the dressing room and showed them the exit. Once outside the door slammed behind them and only the green glow of Ophelia's eyes illuminated the two infuriated girls.

"I guess it's true what they say about never meeting your heroes." was Em's response. "He was a total jerk."

"I would call him a narcissistic glitterball." Ophelia replied.

"Well, we better get home. Your parents must be worried and I have to work on our project." Em was leaving and Ophelia followed with her gaze fixed on the theatre.

"I'm coming back here." She told Em, "Next time, I'll have a police force and a warrant."

* * *

As soon as Ophelia came home she told her parents everything that happened. They listened intently as their daughter explained the treachery of the Fantastic Fake and the possible ghost abuse of Beatrice.

"Before she could tell me anything she disappeared. I'm telling you, I smell a rat and it has a cheesy mustache."

"Are you sure she didn't say anything?" Asked Sam, "We need probable cause to write up a warrant."

"Mom, he gives her no credit." Ophelia exclaimed, "She's not getting paid, she has nowhere to stay, he never let her say a single word to either of us. He must have abducted her from the Ghost Zone."

Danny listened to this intently, recalling a similar incident of a crazed performer who used ghosts to perform against their will. In that occasion, however, they were mind controlled and there were a lot less sequins.

"That sounds like enough to me," Sam said, "I'll call Valarie and find a judge to sign the warrant tomorrow. We might be able to bust him during his next performance. You'll have to come with us to make the arrest, Ophelia."

"Oh no, I want to keep as much distance from me and that glitterball as humanly and ghostly possible. I did my part by telling you, and I'll even write the report. Why do I have to go with you?"

"You know why, Honey." replied her mother sweetly.

Ophelia looked over to her Dad. "Bystander Contract?" she asked her father.

"Bystander Contract." He told her daughter as the whole family groaned at the words. The Bystander Contract was the Guys in White's last stab at Danny Phantom's nerve before the Bureau shut them down. It made him and whoever possessed ghost powers legally bound to assist the local police with any crime involving ghosts. When Ophelia became twelve and more of her powers started to develop, she was forced to sign the contract along with her father. Her mother was able to water down the contract so that Ophelia didn't have to fight every battle and be on call like Danny. She only has to fight the battles that somehow involve her. The contract also stated that if Ophelia discovered anything wrong involving ghosts, she would have to report it to the police and see it all the way through. In this occasion, because she discovered the crime, she would have to go in with the police and act as back-up if anything goes wrong.

"When will people realize that I am not a superhero, nor do I want to be?" Ophelia stated.

"Could've been worse," Danny said in attempt to cheer her up. "People could see you as a villain and your mom and I would try to rip you apart 'molecule by molecule'."

Ophelia smiled, "No, the worse would be for the public to call me Inviso-Bill." She and her mom snickered and high-fived when she mentioned Danny's old misfortune of a name.

"Sam! You told her!" Danny said in embarrassment.

"No, she can read though." Sam replied with the mischievous smile Ophelia had that very night. The night went on until Ophelia went to bed nearly forgetting her encounter with the Fantastic Fake. Almost, but not completely.

* * *

Ophelia was followed into the Presto Theatre by two police officers: Detective Valarie Gray and Detective Esther Trinn. They obtained the warrant earlier than Sam had predicted, they arrived mid day instead of at night. When they arrived Fantastic Finn was in the middle of a dress rehearsal with his assistant. Beatrice was juggling bowling pins as Finn was practicing hand gestures to make it look like he's making them levitate. When Beatrice saw the three women enter she lost concentration and dropped the pins.

"You stupid little klutz!" Yelled the magician; "We have a show in five hours. How can I be the Fantastic Finn when bowling pins fall from the air? If you don't get it together I will... oh, hello ladies." he finally noticed the three women behind her.

"Mr. Finn," said Valarie, " I am Detective Gray and this is Detective Trinn. I believe you've met Ophelia." Ophelia mockingly waved at the man with a venomous smile and blazing eyes. "There has been a report of a possible abuse here. We have a warrant granting us the right to investigate the premises... and interrogate the people involved. If we can, we would like to speak with your associate, please."

Finn examined the warrant and with an irritated twitch of his mustache he signaled for Beatrice to fly over. Ophelia thought it looked like she was dragged like a balloon on a string.

"Beatrice," he said, "These officers and this _child_" he added with as much venom as his composure could permit "would like to ask you a few questions. What do you wish to ask of her?"

"If it's al right with you," said Detective Trinn, "we would like to speak with Beatrice alone."

He was clearly upset with the news but turned on his heels and walked off in compliance.

"Don't go too far," said Detective Trinn, "We'll need to speak with you as well."

As soon as they were sure that he wasn't listening, they turned to Beatrice. Ophelia swore she saw something tugging at Beatrice's ankle. She looked at the officers but they didn't seem to notice anything. Detective Trinn spoke first.

"So... Beatrice, when did you go into business with Mr. Finn there?"

"I am a ghost that personifies the pursuit of stage magic," Beatrice replied "I haunted theatres like these and assist magicians that are tanking on stage and sabotage those that need to be taken down a notch. I encountered the Fantastic Finn when he was starting out. He found me when I was helping him with a show and he offered me a deal. I get to perform my own tricks and he gets to be the face in front of them."

"Why don't you perform your own tricks?" asked Ophelia, "I mean, you've got the raw talent and, if you don't mind me saying so, you are way for visually appealing than that glitter ball and his cheesy mustache."

Everyone laughed at that statement; even Beatrice mustered up a giggle.

"I..um..have terrible stage fright. If the spotlight hits me I just disappear."

"You do that too?" Ophelia said excitedly, "I end up doing that when my teachers introduce me to the class. It makes a horrible first impressions."

Beatrice smiled sweetly. Detective Gray asked the big question.

"This deal you made with him. Did you accept this willingly or did he force you into the business?"

Beatrice had a scared look in her eyes. Before she could say anything, something yanked at her ankle violently and she disappeared. The women looked at each other in disbelief.

"I haven't been at the precinct for long, but I don't think that's how ghosts disappear on their own do they?" asked Detective Trinn.

"No, they do not." said Valarie. Before they could speak further, Finn was heading their way, baring a victorious look on his face.

Valarie turned to Ophelia. "She's still here somewhere, right?"

Ophelia nodded.

"You go find her while we talk to Fantastic Fake here."

"On it." said Ophelia and she ran off to look for the ghost. Passing by the Fantastic Finn.

"Sorry about my assistant," he told the officers, "she tends to disappear when she gets nervous."

"Not a problem," said Detective Trinn, "Ophelia's just going to go look for her right now. We still need to ask you some questions."

* * *

Ophelia looked into every nook and cranny of the theatre, from the catwalk to the audience to the dressing room. After inspecting the various props the ghost could hide in she was about to give up. Then a blue wisp slipped from her mouth when she stood over a trap door on stage. Finding no way to enter like a human she phased through the floor into a dark hallway. There were no lights on and the only thing that illuminated the place was the faint glow Ophelia naturally gives off, only in pitch black would anyone notice this glow and it is ten times handier than a flashlight. Unable to make neither heads nor tail of where to look, Ophelia chose to play hot and cold with her ghost sense. This went on for about five minutes until her sense jerked her towards the right door. Like every door in the spooky hallway, the door way was phased through the door and was shocked at what she saw.

Beatrice was there. Around her ankle was a glowing gold chain that led to oblivion. Ophelia guessed that was what pulled at her earlier. Ophelia tried to pick up the chain, but it shocked her on contact.

"Let me guess, its magically protected from other ghosts?" Ophelia said, irritated at the shock.

Beatrice nodded, "It's the only magic he knows, and all he needs. I cannot use any of my powers unless he wishes it."

"How long have you've been trapped in here?" Ophelia asked with concern.

"Since the day I crossed paths with the Fantastic Finn. When he found me, he tried to make the deal, but I refused. I didn't want him to make a profit out of my magic if he won't even do the work to start with. Then consulted books on necromancy and found the spell to summon me from the Ghost Zone. He offered me the deal again, and I still refused. He cast another spell and a golden chain bound me to him. I had no choice but to accept his deal then."

"You had a home in the Ghost Zone?" Ophelia asked.

"My own realm, my own door. I haven't seen it in years, it must be in absolute turmoil by now." She was saddened at the thought of her home a complete wasteland without her.

"Not to worry, Beatrice," Ophelia assured, "I'll get you out of here and you can return to your realm and it will be good as new."

"I hate Beatrice, it's too formal. And the way Finn says it makes it sound like an insult."

"Then what should I call you?"

"I don't know, give me a name."

Ophelia smiled and pondered at it for a second. "How about Trix, with an 'x'. It's a short version of your name and it reflects on your talents."

Beatrice smiled at this new name "Trix. I like Trix, call me Trix from now on."

"And we can call you jailbird after your arrested." Ophelia turned to the magician standing at the opened doorway. He was twirling his wand with a menacing smile on his face.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked mockingly, "You are the only one who knows about this place. It will take them hours to discover this hallway let alone this room. Enough time for Beatrice to transport me into a completely different town."

"And what about me?" Asked Ophelia, half knowing the answer. "What will keep me from busting this little operation in five seconds?"

Finn smiled and snapped his fingers. A gold chain sprouted from the air and ensnared Ophelia in a fashion similar to a tried to phase out of the chains in vain but continued to struggle.

"You do realize, dear child," said the magician, "That you are worth over a billion dollars dead and twice that alive. With that money I can retire and have her cater to my every whim for the rest of my life. The only question to me is whether I should keep you alive and let the him have the pleasure of killing you or whatever he wants you for."

"Might as well kill me, I'll never let you take me to him alive." Ophelia said, eyes burning in rage. She curled up into a ball as her energy grew enough to visible see and then released it explosively, breaking the chains.

"As you wish, my dear." He took the white carnation from his lapel and tapped it a couple of times before dropping it to the ground. When the white flower turned red, Ophelia backed away as if she were startled by a mouse. The flower took root into the ground and spread black thorny vines. Ophelia recognized the vines and became paralyzed with fear. The vines formed a circle around her making her unable to leave if she ever regained her senses to fly. The vines started to bud and the original flower morphed into what looked like a blood red rose. It was not a rose. It was a blood blossom. Ophelia buckled to the ground in agony. The buds started to bloom revealing more blood blossoms; with every one she was given more and more pain. It felt like flaming thorns were digging into every nerve of her body as a ten thousand volt current went through her. Marks started to show through her skin, scars in the shape of blood blossoms and their thorny vines. They were all over her face and arms, every exposed parts of her skin revealed the painful marks. Beatrice was horrified at the site as well as confused, none of the blossoms were near enough to make contact. Finn blinked a little in surprised but his evil smile never left. Ophelia tried to scream but the pain was too much for her to even gather the energy. Even losing consciousness was impossible, leaving her to wait until her heart can no longer take the shock.

Beatrice could not handle the sight and demanded the magician to stop but to no avail. When she couldn't take it anymore, she found her strength to fight back. She shot a ghost ray at the circle of blossoms, causing them to catch fire. Eventually all the whole plant, buds and all, were consumed in a roaring flame.

Finn stood back from the flame. He glared back furiously at his assistant and prepared for another spell. Before the spell could be conjured, Beatrice shot the wand with her ghost ray. The wand broke, and along with it her gold chain. The ghost smiled as she felt all her powers surge back into her.

Ophelia's scars faded with the absence of the blood blossoms. She took a relieving gasp of air only to choke on the smoke. She didn't have to worry about the flowers anymore, just the wildfire that threatened to burn everyone inside the theatre. Ophelia grabbed the Fantastic Fiend, out cold from Beatrice summing up years of payback, tied him up in ecto-rope and flew the both of them out of the theatre and on the street. She was about to go after Gray and Trinn until she found them by their car alerting the fire department.

"Is everyone okay?" Ophelia asked detective Trinn.

She nodded, "We were looking for the Fantastic Freak over there after he ran off until we saw smoke rising from the floor. We made sure everyone was out and safe when we realized you three were still in there."

When Detective Gray finally finished her call she looked at the unconscious magician and then at her goddaughter.

"Should I add arson to the charges?" She asked.

"No, that was me," Beatrice admitted, "I was burning a few weeds and it got out of hand."

"You can add attempted kidnapping and attempted murder to the charges, though." Ophelia added.

"More than happy to." said Valarie with enthusiasm. "The guy didn't even had an original plot, a human was exploiting ghosts for entertainment back when I was a teenager."

"Only the ghosts were brainwashed and there was a lot less glitter." Ophelia added, remembering the conversation with her parents last night.

"Will you be okay, Beatrice?" asked Valarie with genuine concern, "Do you have a place to stay or anything?"

"It's Trix, actually, " The former Beatrice said, smiling at Ophelia, " with an 'x'. And yes, I have my own realm in the Ghost Zone that needs to be tended to. Do you need me for any court dates?"

"Mrs. Fenton will let you know." Replied Detective Gray, "She won't be the prosecutor, unfortunately, but she'll be keeping a close eye on the case. I can assure you that."

With that Ophelia opened a portal to the Ghost Zone and Trix exited through it. When Finn was in the car and on his way to jail and the fire department had arrived, Ophelia was excused by Valarie to go home and get some rest. She did so happily and went straight home and straight to bed. She slept peacefully knowing that Em was handling the project due tomorrow and that she never has to wear the Ghost Girl suit.


	4. Devil's Gate

The Ghost Zone is an infinite and mysterious place. It defies every law the human plain abides. The volume of this cosmos is indefinite, as it constant shrinks and grows at it's own will. It's as if the Ghost Zone is a sentient being itself, living, breathing, feeding off the very existence and emotions of it's inhabitants.

Two inhabitants in particular were having a heated argument that their realm, hidden behind the door you would find in an eighties dive bar, bent aggressively around towards in hideous shades of red and brown.

"You are not going out with that Phantom girl!" screamed the boy, focusing on his girlfriend instead of repairing his precious motorcycle.

"Why not!" said the girl indignantly, "She's a good girl, I get her in more trouble than she could ever put me in. And besides, you were good friends with Danny if I recall."

"You were better friends if I remember." the boy remembered the time his girlfriend briefly dated the ghost-man back when he was a boy.

"That was only to make you jealous, and nothing ever happened! One fling over the thousands of girls you've been drooling over the past forty years."

Leaving him speechless, she smiled. "Got nothing to say about that?"

He then looked up in worry, "We both know there's a hit out for her head, Babydoll. I just don't want to get hurt in the crossfires."

She was truly touched by his words. She knew well enough he wasn't any kind of poet, only charming and good looking. A split second later concern for her living friend washed over her.

"That's another thing: Skulker wasn't the only one he hired. There are ghosts and humans that are going to go after her. We should at least warn her about the Hit."

The boy was obviously annoyed that his charm failed. "WE don't have to do anything! That little ghost brat can handle herself and daddy dearest will go ape on any one who lays a pinky on his little jewel. WE don't need to stick out necks for a girl who was doomed from day one!"

Incensed by her boyfriend's apathy, she turned to the door.

"Oh, Babe, I'm sorry. We can't help her."

Her hand was on the door when she turned her head towards him. "I'm not planning to be her babysitter or anything, I just want to spend one night with her. We'll be at the Devil's Gate, don't have your stupid shadow follow me." and she slammed the door behind her.

The boy went back to his bike as a form of meditation, even if didn't believe in the guru karma garbage as he put it. His shadow came alive and formed right next to him awaiting for the normal command.

"Not this time, Shadow." he spoke to the inaudible umbra. "We should let her handle herself. It will be better for her if she scares herself away from the ghost brat."

Shadow then looked at the door, his green circles for eyes formed into a shape of concern. After all, he is a projection of his master, they should be able to share the same emotions for a girl at some level. The boy looked at his shadow worried. If an entity of pure misfortune showed worry, then there must be something to worry about.

"Fine, but don't follow Kitty. She'll have my head for it. Follow Ophelia, we both know that's where the trouble starts."

With that, Shadow melted into where the ground would be and slithered through the door.

* * *

"Where are we going again?" Trix inquired of her new friend. She was sitting on the bed, happy to never have to make things float or disappear ever again.

"It's called Devil's Gate, it's a rock night club for teens. The name actually came from an old rock song from the seventies." Ophelia was putting on a hoop earring by her mirror.

"I thought this place was in the Ghost Zone?" Trix asked.

"There are teenage ghosts you know." said Ophelia. "And dead teenagers still love to rock out."

"True." Trix agreed. " When do I get to see this friend of yours, anyhow?"

"Kitty?" Ophelia was applying her eye-liner and couldn't fix her gaze at her friend, "We'll be meeting her there. Her boyfriend forbids her from coming near our place."

"Why's that?"

"He thinks we are cursed. Ironic since he's the one with the bad luck shadow." Just then a blue wisp flew form her lips. Ophelia scanned the room only to find Trix and her black shadow looming on the bed. "Speak of the devil." she said as she flicked a spark of light onto the shadow. When the spark made contact the shadow twitched as one would do when pricked by a needle. At seeing this Trix boosted off the bed as Shadow arose on the spot she just sat.

"That's the shadow you spoke of?" Trix said with surprise.

"Yep," Ophelia said as she turned to the dark apparition. "I'm guessing Johnny doesn't trust me around his girl and sent you to follow me. Am I correct?"

Somehow, the two-dimensional being managed to nod his head in confirmation.

"If I have to earn his trust the hard way than I shall." Ophelia said with annoyance thickly spread on every syllable. "You can follow me around as my shadow for tonight, but if Kitty finds you, you and 13 are on your own."

With a fanged grin, Shadow leaped into the spot Ophelia's shadow would have been, had not the soft light of the room diffused it. Ophelia then got up and tested her pseudo shadow against the wall. He formed himself around every detail of her body to make the perfect silhouette, and then faded in color the match the amount of light against his subject.

Ophelia whistled, impressed she said, "I have to admit, the guy knows how to blend into his surroundings"

When both girl, ghost, and shadow were ready, Ophelia opened a ghost portal with a snap of her fingers and they entered. As soon as Ophelia set foot and the alternate reality two white rings formed at her waist and then moved up and down, turning her raven black hair snow white, and her flashing emerald eyes into glowing amethyst. Her skin tanned and her body then glowed like her ghostly friend next to her.

Trix was startled at this change and Shadow altered his density to the new light.

"Why did you change form?" Trix asked, a new pair of purple eyes flashed at her.

"Hmm? Oh you mean this?" pointing to her hair and eyes. "It's a natural reflex I have. Since I can't separate my ghost half from my human half like my dad can, my body naturally charges form to fit my surroundings. I can change back if I want to but this will always be how I naturally look in the Ghost Zone. I don't bother, I honestly don't care how I look either way."

"Do you think this will change when you divide your halves successfully?"

"I can't. My dad is in a sense two beings smushed together. He has both a full set of DNA and a whole ectoplasmic signature. I on the other hand am two halves blended to make a whole. With only half of a human's DNA from my mother and ectoplasmic signature from my father. If someone rips out my ghost half, my humanity will become unstable and die. The same thing will happen to my ghost half unless it can find a new body or enough ectoplasmic energy to light up all of Las Vegas for a year."

Trix looked at her half-ghost friend with new found respect and sympathy, as well as nervous curiosity.

"Why are you telling me this? Information like the could kill you if it falls onto the wrong hands."

Ophelia had a pang of regret, and responded to her friend with a little stress. "I know you are a good person, you wouldn't do anything to hurt me if you can help it."

"How do you know that, we've only known each other for two weeks."

Ophelia's amethyst eyes flashed brightly at her friend and Trix felt like those eyes were digging into her very being and reading every secret she ever kept."I am just a great judge of character. I only associate myself with people I think would make good friends, and I've never been wrong so far."

Trix looked down at the floor at the third party projecting Ophelia's form.

"What about him?" she asked pointing at Shadow.

Ophelia looked down."Eh, he can't talk. And he knows that if anything happened to me my dad will toss him into the sun."

Shadow broke his character at that point to shudder at the thought of the deadly exposure to light.

After an awkward silence, Ophelia led the way to a red door molded and painted into the shape of a metal rod gate. Outside was Kitty, Ophelia ran up up her on sight

"Kitty!" Ophelia exclaimed to her friend.

"Phé!" Kitty screamed at the sight of her friend. They hugged as if they haven't seen each other in years rather than months. After a few moments they broke their embrace and turned to Trix.

"Is this your new friend?" Kitty asked the snow-haired teen.

"Kitty, I like you to meet the newly independent Miss Beatrice the Amazing. But she likes to be called Trix."

"Pleasure to meet you Trix." said Kitty as she shook hands with the fire-haired ghost.

"The feeling's mutual, Kitty." said Trix politely.

"Shall we go in?" asked Ophelia.

"Let's" Both Kitty and Trix replied.

Ophelia opened the door and let her two friends in first before she entered herself. Devil's Gate, being a ghostly realm, somehow merged every form and style of rock seamlessly into one place. It blended in a British underground rock club with a Sunset Boulevard night club during the seventies with an casual American dive bar. There was a stage for bands to perform any variation of rock ( but it mostly would be the classics ). There where tables and a bar area where people could sit and have a couple of drinks, though the bar was more of a formality and a force of habit, like most human things that ghosts do.

Ophelia and Kitty automatically took their usual table closest to the dance area. Trix followed soon after she examined the place, seating herself opposite to the close friends.

"So Trix," Kitty said to the quiet girl, "Phé told me that you haven't been in the Ghost Zone for a while."

"She did, did she?" Trix said skeptically, Ophelia just gave a shrug. "Well, Ophelia has told me a little about you too, like how your boyfriend has a second shadow over you." Ophelia's eyes glowed violet in protest, the color emphasized by her black eye-liner. Shadow squirmed a little, but not enough for anyone (especially Kitty) to notice.

"Is that so?" Kitty looked at Ophelia slyly and started to laugh. "It's okay, she has a little issue with keeping secrets. She knows how to keep big ones, like the ones that could do serious damage if they fall into the wrong hands. The little ones don't go through her filter well."

"Well, you're no better." Ophelia retorted in a jocular tone.

Kitty looked at her friend in an equal jocular glare. "When have I ever given away any of your secrets?"

"How about the time when you told my school that I skipped class and let a duplicate take my place. I missed the whole lesson and I still got an A on Mr. Darwin's pop quiz."

"Yeah sorry about that, I didn't know your duplication powers wasn't public knowledge. You probably wouldn't have to sign the Contract if I didn't tell them."

Ophelia nearly hissed at the words but managed to shrug instead. "It's alright, I can't stay mad at you."

They laughed a little and Ophelia got up from the table.

"I'm going to go get us some drinks, what would you guys like?"

"I'll take a soda." said Kitty.

"I'll take a malt, please." said Trix with Kitty blinking at her before realizing that Trix must be from a time before soda.

"Two sodas and a malt," said Ophelia, "I'll be right back." she headed to the bar to get the drinks, leaving Trix and Kitty alone with each other.

"So Trix," Kitty said to the timid ghost, "how did you meet Ophelia?"

"Nothing too big," said Trix, "she recused me from slavery by an insane magician with a cheesy mustache."

"The usual," Kitty laughed

"And how did you become friends?" asked Trix.

"I knew her parents back when they still were clueless teens." Explained Kitty, "I had Johnny help me possess her aunt's body since he fried mine in the Fenton Portal. We started a friendly antagonistic relationship with the Fentons ever since. I was actually Ophelia's babysitter back when she was tiny."

Trix thought this would be a perfect time to ask what was bothering her since her escape.

"Did you ever notice, when you were babysitting her, certain marks on her skin?"

Kitty's smile quickly faded and her face darkened.

"You mean the scars. Yeah, when she was little they were actually stuck on her all the time. Somehow she managed to heal enough for them to disappear. It was taboo to mention them but I knew what had happened."

"What?" asked Trix with worry.

Kitty looked up from the table, her eyes pained to mention them.

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather not talk about it. Not only would it be a betrayal of her trust but the pain of the experience she had went through is so potent that just listening to the story hurts. If she hadn't told you yet, than she doesn't think your up for it."

Trix seemed to understand, but she still held great concern for her friend. If what happened to Ophelia was worse than what she had seen back in the Presto Theatre, she is surprised that she hasn't hated the world.

"The scars weren't as bad," Kitty said, "after you'd spend a little time with her you forget they are on her face at all. She has a silver tongue, gets it from her mother. She can grab the room by the ear and pull them towards the room without even trying. Her eyes don't hurt either."

They were back on lighter subjects when Ophelia returned with their drinks and three coins

"What are these for?" asked Trix. Ophelia and Kitty smiled as they picked their coins from the table.

"They're for the jukebox." said Kitty.

"What jukebox?" asked Trix and a little jukebox machine appeared right by her. "Oh"

"Pick a song," Said Ophelia as she flipped through the selection. "stick the coin in and the band will play it as a request." Ophelia then picked the song "People are Strange" by the Doors and stuck the coin in as she had just instructed. As soon as the last song ended, the band played the requested song without any hesitation. The band sounded exactly like the Doors as if the band themselves were possessing the group and giving a "live" performance for them. Trix was amazed at the sight, she was reminded even more that she has been gone from the Ghost Zone for way too long.

Kitty seemed to be reading her mind because she then asked "Do you have your own realm?"

Pulled back from her thoughts she replied "Yes, I do."

"It must have gone to ruin in your absence." Kitty said and then stared at her drink when Ophelia's eyes glowed at her.

"It was t as bad as I thought it would've been. All I really had to do was a little weed trimming and bookcase dusting. It's still not completely cleaned up but I can at least live in there."

"We'd love to come over when you fixed up the place." Ophelia said with a warm smile. "I want to see what you call home. We can always help you with the cleaning too." Kitty didn't look too happy on cleaning someone's house."Well, I can always help you, anyway."

"Thanks," said Trix, "but I can handle it myself. Besides, my place is a little shy so it won't let you clean if it doesn't know you well. It's already got abandonment issues, making it hard for me to clean."

"I understand," said Ophelia, "I have realm of my own. I know how hard it is to manage it, especially when it absorbs your moodiness."

Kitty and Trix were both wide-eyed in surprise. "You have a realm in the Ghost Zone?" they said simultaneously.

"Yeah, the Observants let my family have one since I'm technically a citizen of the Ghost Zone. It was meant for my dad, since he's a citizen too and older, but it only responds to me and my emotions. So, it's my realm."

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had your own realm?" asked Kitty, surprised her close friend could keep such an amazing secret from her.

"I thought I already did." Ophelia shrugged, "Well it isn't hard to miss. The only part of my dad that stuck is his emblem on the door. My family has a little habit of putting their names on everything."

Kitty laughed knowing what Ophelia was referring to. Like his parents, Danny had said tendency to put his name on anything he had made or improved. Instead of a car or a baseball bat with the word "Fenton" on it, he would mark whatever ghostly work with the DP emblem. The emblem would even be stuck on a bad guy if the fight was so spectacular that he had to let people know who the guy went up against. That is the only form of show boating Danny allowed himself to do when crime fighting. Ophelia never really inherited this trait. Instead, she tried her best not to leave any trace of herself. The last thing she wanted was attention, and she tried her best never to get it.

* * *

They had been there for a while, they nearly lost track of the time. Ophelia nearly forgot about Shadow but a a couple of squirms when the lights hit him reminded her of the fourth party at the table. Kitty and Trix were getting along faster than Ophelia could've imagined, and she was glad. She needed them to be friends so Trix would have someone in the Ghost Zone to go to.

The three of them each picked a song from the jukebox and now wanted another round. Ophelia got up from the table to purchase more coins from the bar. When she got there she felt an eerie presence. This isn't the eerie presence one would get from a ghost, that would silly to feel such a way in the Ghost Zone. This is the eerie presence of someone that she didn't know was watching her. That someone was at the edge of the bar. If she wasn't having such a great time with her friends, Ophelia would have noticed them. The person was a woman about her parents age, with red hair and purple eyes. Ophelia could tell the woman was human, but that didn't make her any less worried. Ophelia got the coins, trying not to stare too much at the woman as she returned to the table. As soon as she put the coins down a laser was shot directly at her. Ophelia was able to dodge it by an inch and the laser blasted the table startling the ghost seated there. Ophelia turned to find, to no surprise, that the red haired woman had shot the blast from a gun strapped to her wrist.

Everyone started to flee the club as soon as the first shot was fired. Ophelia turned to the tender and was about to tell him to notify the police when she remembered that ghosts try to avoid the police as much as possible. Especially since Walker heads the police department in the Ghost Zone and would quite possibly throw the caller in jail for some minor rule he would make up on the spot.

She turned to her friend Trix "Get the Police!" she demanded and Trix was on her way. The red haired woman tried to shoot at Trix, but she managed to dodge and slip through the door before another shot could be fired.

"Let me guess," Ophelia told the red haired woman, "You're after me for the bounty."

The woman smiled "How did you guess?" she said in a mocking tone.

"Am I really worth a billion dollars to him? I'm touched." Ophelia put up a shield to block another hit as she said this.

"Your corpse is worth a billion, the bounty is double for the person who takes you in alive." the woman pulled out what looked like a red version of the Fenton Wraithe Rangler and tossed a lasso at Ophelia. Ophelia grabbed the lasso so it wrapped around her wrist and used it to pull the woman off balance and swung her around. When she let go the woman flew into the empty stage and land right into the abandoned drum set.

"There are a thousand drum puns I can do right now, but they are too lame to even mention." Ophelia said.

"Looks like someone's getting beat." Kitty said, oblivious of Ophelia's statement.

"Like that one." Ophelia said annoyed.

The woman picked up a cymbal and tossed it at Ophelia. The cymbal passed harmlessly through her without her having to turn herself intangible.

"I'm half human, you know that right?" Ophelia said in response to the woman's surprise "Humans are intangible to anything in the Ghost Zone and so am I. If you wanted to capture a half-human in the Ghost Zone, you should have known that."

The woman smiled,"I do." The cymbal cut through a rope and an ecto-net dropped on Ophelia trapping her. When she tried to break out, the woman pushed a button on her wrist and a electrical current zapped Ophelia. She walked over to her and bent down to eye level. "I was trained by the best and have been catching ghosts for twenty-four years. I have caught bigger and more powerful ghosts than some whiney little teenager with ectoplasm in her chromosomes. You are coming with me, whether you like it or not. And if you had any sense, you won't."

She was about to grab Ophelia when a ghost ray hit her square in the shoulder and knocked her across the room. The shot was made by Kitty. "I'm guess you aren't that good if you forgot about the whiney teenager's friend." she retorted to the woman.

"Kitty, banter later. Rescue now, please." Said Ophelia, still struggling under the electric net. Kitty ran over and tried to pull the net off of Ophelia, only to be shocked by the current.

"No use, can't touch it." Kitty said.

"Does this place have a basement?" Ophelia asked.

"They must to stash some of their equipment."

"Perfect." with that Ophelia phased through the floor, leaving her "shadow" behind.

The woman got up and hit Kitty with her wrist laser, now set to work as a tazer. Kitty fell to her knees from the shock. "There's no money in it for me if I destroy you, not that ghosts can be destroyed." the woman said "But it will be very enlightening to see what happens to a ghost when their energy is completely zapped from them." The woman reset the laser and shot at Kitty, now screaming as the laser ate away at her physical form.

Ophelia phased through the floor and floated to the net. The net glowed with her hand and was lifted to the air. She commanded "Get her" to the freed shadow on the ground. Shadow slithered across the floor and pounced on the woman knocking her to the ground. The wrist laser broke when hitting the ground and the ray zapping Kitty stopped. Ophelia went to her friend to see if she was fine, and they both watched as Shadow was giving the woman a royal beat down.

"What's the matter," Ophelia taunted, "Can take down ghost ten times your size but can't handle their shadow."

"I told Johnny not sick his stupid shadow on me." Kitty said, eyes glued to the fight.

"Technically Shadow was following me around and I'm pretty glad he did. Saves me a lot of energy."

"Do you think we should kill the lights before she figures out he's photophobic?"

"On it." Ophelia then used her ghost ray to blast every spotlight on the stage and on the dance floor so all that was left were the dim lights of the club, completely harmless to shadow and allows the girls to watch the fight before the police can arrive.

By the time GZPD arrived the woman was tied up in rope Ophelia had produced with her ghost energy, already finished with her long winded speech about seeking revenge on the girls for defeating her and having her arrested.

Trix was there with the Police as well as Danny Phantom, who was called up by Walker as soon as he heard the word "Fenton" in the same sentence as the word "assassin". Johnny followed them when he saw the police vans head in the direction of Devil's Gate. He pulled in a little after the police and ran straight to Kitty when he entered.

When Danny approached the woman they immediately recognized each other.

"Phantom." said the woman in disgust.

"Well if it isn't Vivian Redd, or would you rather go by Vid." replied Danny to the former member of Masters' Blasters.

"I go by Vendetta now." said the woman.

"That's a silly name." Danny said, eyebrow raised. "Who would you seek revenge on?"

"If it weren't for your little quibbles with Masters, I wouldn't have risen to the top to fall rock bottom in the trash heap."

Ophelia rolled her eyes, she had heard this story too many times before. "That's a perfectly sane reason to don the name Vedetta and try to kill me." she said with a heavy coat of sarcasm.

When Vendetta was hauled away Ophelia looked around the Devil's Gate and realized that it was in shambles.

"This place won't be open for a while." Danny said while looking around with his daughter.

"It's a crying shame too." Ophelia said "I like this place. It'll be bankrupt when they finally put this place together."

"There's a beauty in the Ghost Zone, Ophelia. When a realm is well liked and leaves an imprint on people, it heals itself based on that imprint."

At that moment, the place seemed to be putting itself together as the shattered glass vanished and the broken furniture started to put itself back together again.

* * *

"Is Johnny okay with you hanging around Kitty again?" asked Darcy.

Ophelia was now at school and she had just explained to her friends what had occurred over the weekend.

"He went ballistic and they had a huge fight." Ophelia explained "He doesn't want me to even breathe in the same place she floated. But that doesn't mean I'll never see her again, she does her own thing."

"This Vendetta chick, was she really put away?"

"Yes, she's in Walker's jail right now in the Ghost Zone. Once they finish with the courts they'll trade her off with Skulker and take her to a prison in the Human Plane."

"Aren't you worried, Ophelia?" asked the very concerned Owen. "Three people have tried to kill you in the past month. This bounty thing is serious, What if one of these guys actually succeed?"

Ophelia hid her ounce of concern with a smile. "If the person behind all of this is who I think he is, then he won't hire anyone that can actually kill me. He wants me alive, I don't know why but he does. He'll pick someone who will be good enough to either capture me or make me go insane enough to turn myself in. My family can manage, we've been through worse. You don't have to worry about me."

* * *

At the Thirteenth Precinct and at Walker's Prison at the same time, two prisoners were being swapped for appropriate incarceration. One Vivian Redd was to be transferred to the Human Plane and one tiny Skulker to be transferred to the Ghost Zone. This was the plan at least. However, three ghostly vultures broke into Walker's Prison and took away both prisoner's from the vicinities.

Once far enough away in the Ghost Zone and released from their cuffs, both hunters asked the three very old birds why they were sent to break them out. They responded by saying it was part of the Boss's plan. When pressed further, one of the birds gave each of the hunters a communication device. They will be called when they are needed and shall await further instructions until then.

The hunters looked at each other knowing who organized their escape. It was the same man who had hired them in the first place. They knew when they were given their orders, it will somehow involve the Fentons once again.


	5. Dog Days

Sam and her daughter were working in the greenhouse when Owen called from over the fence. He was still incredulous of how Ophelia was able to build a greenhouse and cultivate plants inside in such a short amount of time. He even saw her build the house with her mother everyday after school and was amazed at how fast she was able to put it together, it was like there were four of her. The instantaneous plant growth wasn't too big of a leap considering he saw her revive a dying apple tree. Sam only allowed Ophelia to use her ghost powers on half the plants, mainly the flowers. Ophelia only had the power for a couple of months so none of the Fentons were completely sure if it was safe to eat crops handled by Ophelia's ectoplasm. The apples were tested and came out clean, but new ghost powers tend to be inconsistent.

Owen hopped the fence and knock at the door of the green house. Sam turned in to the boy.

"Hello Mrs. Fenton, hey Ophelia." he greeted.

"Hello Owen," replied Sam, "Do you wish to help us in here?"

"No thank you," said Owen, "my mom doesn't allow me near plants after I killed all of her prized daffodils. I wanted to see if Ophelia would want to come grab lunch at the Nasty Burger with me. I mean, I'm meeting up with the rest of the gang there and wanted to know if she wanted to come."

Sam smiled and turned to her daughter, who was busy watering the plants.

"Ophelia, Honey" Sam said "Do you want to go over to the meet with friends at the Nasty Burger?"

"Hmm," Ophelia said, "Oh, hello Owen. Sure, I'll go with you. Is that all right with you mom."

"No problem at all. Have fun."

Ophelia got up and turned intangible to shake the dirt off of her. She grabbed a couple of apples from the tree and offered one to Owen who took it happily. Sam watched as they walked o. She couldn't help but laugh at the poor boy, she's seen that awkwardness before. A long time ago.

"Clueless"

* * *

On the way there Owen looked at Ophelia. She was wearing a green flannel shirt with denim shorts, Her raven hair was pulled back into a ponytail showing her glittering green eyes. Nothing of her appearance surprised him accept for her lack of sweat.

"Ophelia." Owen said.

"Yes Owen?" replied Ophelia

"Why aren't you sweating? It's the biggest heat wave of the year and your not sweating. I'm sweating like a pig over here." he immediately regretted drawing her attention to his sweatty, stinky shape.

"Pigs can't sweat," Ophelia said in a slight monotone "they don't have sweat glands and therefore can't sweat. As for me, my body runs naturally cooler than everyone ese. My dad said it's because I have an ice core and will eventually develop cryokinesis." Owen stared blankly, "Ice powers."

"Oh." Owen said. He's known Ophelia for a couple of months as a neighbor and a best friend and knows very little about her. He's come to notice, at least, that she is smart. He also learned that when she doesn't like to talk about something she talks about trivial things to avoid the subject. He assumes that she is somehow unable to lie, but he ignores a lot of her traits because they lead to questions he knows she won't answer.

At that moment a car flew right in front of them, followed by Danny Phantom who rammed against the car leaving a massive dent on the roof. He got up into the air hands glowing, ready to jump back into the fight.

"Hi Dad," Ophelia said while she waved.

"Hi Ophelia," He waved is ecto-charged hands to her.

"Who is it this time?"

"Technus, he decided to crash an electronics convention."

"Is Valarie here with you?"

"Valarie was here before me. She knew this was coming. Hello Owen."

Owen just waved dumbfounded.

"So where are you going? Hold on... be right back." Danny flew back into the fight and in his place he tossed a large Technus robot against a building, shattering the windows.

"You think you defeat Technus, Master of Technology, from taking control of all the new gadgets to conquer the world."

"Dude!" Ophelia yelled at the possessed machine."What ever happened to that 'not giving away the master plan' upgrade thing you keep talking about? We're not even fighting you and we now know the evil plot."

Danny intervened before Technus could reply. He zapped the machine and pulled out the ghost within. He used a modern version of the Fenton Thermos (It looks nothing like a thermos other than its cyllandrical shape) to trap him.

"So..." Danny tried to back track to the previous conversation he had before. "Where are you guys off to again?"

"The Nasty Burger." Ophelia replied sweetly. "Wanna come?"

"Sorry Honey, I can't. I'm still working at the station and will have to fly back there as soon as I sort things out with the Precinct."

"It's okay, just don't get home late tonight. It's your turn to cook dinner tonight."

"That's a deal, bye Ophelia. Bye Owen." Danny then flew over to the police to had over Technus.

Ophelia turned to the still dumbfounded Owen.

"Shall we go?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, sure." Owen snapped back and started walking with Ophelia. "I'm still not used to having superheroes as next door neighbors."

"Not what you expect from the girl next door, is it?" Ophelia teased, Owen trying hide his blushing cheeks. "And it's superhero, singular. I don't do that, remember."

"Oh, right." Owen couldn't hide his blushing that time.

Just then Ophelia's Ghost sense went off, and a look of recognition spread across her face as well as a smile. Started to run off the direction her sense led her.

"Ophelia?" Owen said while trying to catch up with her. "Where are you going?"

Ophelia didn't hear anything as she ran faster to her destination. She headed straight into the park as Owen followed. Once she made it to a thicket of trees she slowed down. Owen stared at her confused as she started whistling. Why would she be whistling for a ghost in the middle of a park? There was a rustle in the bushes that startled Owen and excited Ophelia. A little green dog, appearing no older than three months, appeared from the bushes. He had red eyes and a collar around his neck. He had that silly little expressions puppies have when happily reuniting with their owner. Ophelia smiled at the adorable ghost dog.

"Cujo!" Ophelia exclaimed to the little dog, who leaped in her arms at the sound of his name."Where have you been, you silly little dog? I've missed you."

"Is _that_ your dog?" said Owen in surprised. Mostly because he saw her a more of a cat person.

"Well, sort of." Ophelia responded while petting Cujo. "He always follows us around and we let him stay at our house, but he tends to come and go as he pleases. I've actually taught him a few tricks. You wanna see?"

"Uh..sure"

Ophelia put the dog down as it sat itself opposite to it's owner.

"Cujo, stand." Cujo then got up to its hind legs, his forepaws under his little chin.

"Coju, hide." Cujo then turned invisible.

"Cujo, play alive." Cujo's fur turned from green to light brown and his red his turned blue. His pale tongue turned a few shades brighter until he resembled a living dog.

"Cool." Was all Owen could say to the little ghost dog.

"Is it okay if Cujo comes with us? I'd have to take him home otherwise. He'll end up following me one way or the other."

"Doesn't the Nasty Burger have a strict no pets policy?" Owen asked.

"I guess that applies to dead dogs as well." Said Ophelia defeated. "I'll take him home and then meet with you guys later. Is that okay?"

"It'll be fine, they'll understand when I tell them that you reunited with your ghost puppy." They both laughed at how ridiculous and reasonable that sounds at the same time.

"Thanks Owen, catch you later." Ophelia picked up the little ghost dog, now back into his original form, and flew into the direction of her house. Owen just stood there amazed. He learns more and more about her everyday, yet at the same time he feels he know less by the hour.

* * *

"Hey mom," Ophelia said as she entered then door to her house.

"Hey Ophelia." Sam greeted, "That was rather fast. How's your trip to the Nasty Burger."

"Didn't make it there, look who I found in the park." She Held out the little green dog right at eye level with Sam, who was both happy and annoyed with the return of their beloved little dog.

"Cujo!" She said sweetly as she snatched the little ghost from her daughters hands. "Took you long enough. The greenhouse is in top shape without you digging out all the roots."

"I think he's house trained enough to stay in my room. I found the bed just the other day." Ophelia said excitedly.

"You know your father has the last say with Cujo. Besides, last time we tried to make him an inside dog he destroyed all the little dresses Grandma Manson gave you."

"Yeah, I still don't know how he got into my closet, or why he only picked those horrible dresses." Ophelia said guiltily.

"I just wish I had thought of that when I was your age." She winked at Ophelia and they both barked to respond, which sounded like a toy dog's bark when in his minute form. This made the women laugh harder.

"Dad's going to think this is hilarious." Ophelia said, petting the dog.

"What I just said or Cujo's bark?" Sam asked, a little confused.

"No, that we found Cujo during the Dog Days, it's nearing the end of September."

"Oh, astronomy humor. I guess he'll get it."

"I'm surprised you guys named him Cujo instead of Sirius. Dad was pretty into astronomy back in those days, wasn't he?"

"He did, but we found out that when he was alive, Axiom Labs named him Cujo. Even after death he goes by that name."

Cujo leaped out of Sam's arms and ran up stairs, straight to Ophelia's room. Ophelia flew after him to make sure he wasn't up to any mischief. Sam looked on at her little girl with her even littler dog. She wasn't much of a dog person, but she let Danny and Ophelia keep Cujo mainly because he's dead. Dead dogs don't need to be fed, they don't need to be cleaned after, and in Cujo's case, dead dogs don't need to be trained since they had all their training when they were alive. It was a cross between a virtual pet and a real one, all the cuddliness without the work. Danny always wanted a dog, but never got one when growing up because his parents. They had feared a dog would destroy their inventions or they would end up killing it in a freak accident and their kids would never forgive them. So Sam had to go up against two sets of puppy dog eyes when she first considered keeping the dog. The eyes had obviously done their magic.

* * *

The next day Ophelia left for school while Cujo was still asleep in bed. She took the moped from the tool shed and into the front yard. She put on her lucky goggles and a helmet, taking out the flower in her hair and stashing it away in a loose compartment on the she made it to Casper High she was met by Owen, Darcy, and Wal. They were in the middle of a conversation by the time Ophelia had parked the moped, placed her lucky goggles in her school bag and put the flower back in her hair. When they saw her, they broke their conversation and looked at her. Darcy and Wal looked at her in curiosity, Owen rather strangely when he saw what Ophelia was wearing.

"Hey guys," Ophelia said, somewhat oblivious to the staring. "what were you just talking about?"

"Owen told us about your new dog." Wal explained.

"Or rather newly reunited dog." Darcy explained further.

Ophelia looked at Owen in a pretend suspicious look. "Did he now?"

Owen didn't seem to realize the jest and panicked. "Not anything bad, really. Not that there is anything bad to tell about a cute little ghost dog."

Ophelia laughed. She never quite understood why Owen seemed to be nervous around her half the time. She knew it didn't involve her ghost powers, even though he asked a lot about her ghost powers and about the Phantom half of her family. Whatever made him so nervous, she loved to make him squirm once in a while.

"Yes, I do have a dog." she addressed to Darcy and Wal. "He has been around the family long before me, even before my sister."

"Hold on. You have a SISTER!" Owen and Wal asked in unison.

Ophelia groaned in annoyance at what she had just provoked. "Technically, no. It's a long, complicated story for another day. What I was trying to say is that I had Cujo for a long time."

She hated giving away facts about her life like that. She used to hide her ghost powers when she was little because she was afraid that they would cause too much trouble both in the mobs of starstruck school children and in the ghosts that would pick a fight with the little girl if they knew she could fight back. But that was blown out of the water when she started getting new powers out of nowhere, starting when she split herself in two during a game of dodgeball. She was able to cover herself in that incident, but not when her trusted babysitter thought it would be fun to skip class and leave her duplicate behind to take a test. After that, she stuck to telling people as little about her and her family as possible. And to her, Dani is one of many things about her family she would rather keep to herself.

"You named your dog Cujo?" Darcy said, ignoring the two boys fantasizing Ophelia's sister.

"Axiom Labs named my dog Cujo. Back when he was alive, he was one of the labs security dogs. They thought Cujo was a threatening name."

"He's not that threatening, though." Owen said when he snapped out his little dreamworld. "He was a puppy when I saw him."

"That's because he wasn't threatened or aggravated in any way." Ophelia explained."He's pretty scary when he's provoked."

"I doubt it. That little thing wouldn't scare a bunny rabbit, let alone me." Owen said, trying to act cool with his arms crossed and his head slightly turned away and his eyes closed. He lost his cool moment when his auburn hair got into his eyes and he tried to blow it away. He opened one of his hazel eyes to see if anyone saw that.

Ophelia giggled at his failed attempt at being macho. "Like I said, you haven't seen him angry. Nor me, as a matter of fact." She made her eyes glow menacingly to spook the poor boy, all laughed at his scared little face.

* * *

Homeroom went on just as it always had. As well as second period. But during third period, Ophelia's ghost sense went off before she could hear the barking of a small toy dog outside the window. She tried to ignore it as best she could, but eventually the whole class was staring out the window at the barking, leaping, little green dog.

"Ms. Fenton," said her English teacher.

"Yes, Mrs. Harper?" she asked, pretending no to hear the barking.

"Would that happen to be your dog barking outside the window?"

"What, so you think that since I'm half ghost that a random ghost dog outside the window is immediately mine?"

Cujo gave up on the barking and phased through the wall and walked right up to Ophelia's desk, ruining her perfectly good argument.

"Ms. Fenton, we do have a strict no pets policy in this school. Alive or dead; they are not allowed."

"Yes, Mrs. Harper." Ophelia groaned. She turned to her dog and commanded:"Cujo, go home." As commanded, Cujo raced across the classroom and through the wall in the direction of Willow Street.

"Cute little thing." Mrs. Harper commented. "How long have you had it for?"

"Twenty-four years." Ophelia answered.

"Don't let it happen again." Mrs. Harper commanded.

"Yes, ma'am."

When class ended, some of the girls she never talked to before walked up to her.

"Was that really your dog?" One of them asked.

"Yes."

"Where do you get a dog like that? It's too cute." Another one stated with a squeal.

"Cujo is one of a kind, like me. Your can't just go to a kennel in the Ghost Zone and pick one."

"Well, when they open one let us know." The girls left Ophelia before they could see her eyes roll. Amity Park is the most haunted town in the country, in the planet even. Yet, most of the population are still clueless about the Ghost Zone.

* * *

"Is Cujo really one of a kind?" Abi asked during PE.

"Well, we've never encountered a dog like him in the Ghost Zone or the Human Plane. I should think that if there were any dogs at all, you could count them on one hand. Plus Cujo's my dog, so he's one of a kind to me."

They were running on the track while they were speaking. Coach Baxter noticed that they were slowing down so he blew his whistle for them to speed up.

"Fenton, de Fleur, pick up the pace before I make you do twenty push-ups."

"Are you still planning on trying out for Track with Darcy?" Abi asked.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Ophelia answered "It'll kill some time after school and it will give me and excuse to not be on call when something ghost related happens."

"How are you even going to try out? Won't Coach Baxter disqualify you because of your ghost powers? He already has it in for you, I don't think putting his golden boys to shame will put you on his good side."

"Abi, I've had ghost powers for my entire existence. Do you think that the issue of an athletic advantage hasn't been brought to my parents attention. I've got something for it."

"What would that be?"

"How about you wait until tryouts after school to find out."

* * *

As Ophelia requested, Abi waited after school to watch her and Darcy try out for track. She was accompanied in the bleachers by Owen, whose eyes seemed to be fixed on what were about twelve other girls on the feild. Baxter had already picked out the boys team so they were already out on the field warming up.

Coach Baxter walked up to Ophelia, who was stretching in preparation. He seemed to be annoyed that she had the nerve to try out.

"Fenton, what are you doing here?" Baxter said at a rather high volume.

"Trying out." She answered with a cheery voice, ignoring the aggression in Coach Baxter's.

"Don't you think you have too great of an advantage over the rest of the girls? Don't you think it would be unfair to them if you take away a spot for them?"

"Well I do run around all the time, but I don't think a little healthy exercise should prevent me from trying out. That's what try outs are for, isn't it? To see who can cut it in the team."

Ophelia heard the other girls giggling behind her. Darcy was giving her a high five. Coach Baxter started to turn red.

"You know what I mean, Phantom! What will keep you from using your ghost powers to cheat and cost me my tournament trophies?"

"This will, I believe." Ophelia pulled out her duffel bag a large metal wrist cuff. It had the traditional green and white color scheme of all Fenton gadgetry. If that didn't give it away, the word "Fenton" did.

"It's an ecto-inhibitor," Ophelia continued, "As long as I wear this, it neutralizes my ghost powers. Whatever speed or strength you see me do with this thing will be because of pure human muscle, not by ghost powers."

"And why should I approve that do-hicky to be used on my field?"

"Because my parents already got it cleared by the Board on the first week of school."Ophelia gave Coach Baxter a letter of approval from the President of the Amity Park Board of Education. "Somehow, they knew you wouldn't let me try out for anything without it."

Coach Baxter read the letter thoroughly before he grumbled "Go ahead, Fenton." in defeat.

Ophelia then put on the inhibitor and turned it on. She gave her wrist to Coach Baxter. "You have to set in a code so I won't be able to take it off on track. Standard procedure." Baxter then put in a random set of numbers and the bracelet locked on to her wrist. There was a slight green glow around her body and then it stopped, her eyes dulled to a dark green.

"Okay, I'm ready."

"Girls, seven of you get to your marks. Boys, clear out of the track so they can run."

Seven of the girls, including Ophelia, got to the track. The other seven continued to stretch and prepare for their turn. Darcy went to the bleechers and sat with Abi, both had their eyes fixed on Ophelia on the field. The boys took their seat two rows in front of Abi and Darcy, some were chuckling about seeing the girls run. The word "sissies" was said by one of the boys.

Coach Baxter had his eyes on his watch ready to start. "Girls on your mark, get set, GO!"

The girls sprinted off at the word, each going for the lead. Ophelia made it all the way to the lead with what appeared to be little effort. In no time she a good two feet ahead of the rest of the girls, and was still sprinting farther and farther away until . Half of the audience were in awe at the performance. The boys were shrugging it off, mumbling about her being a silly girl. Abi, Owen and Darcy were cheering full out for Ophelia.

"Way to go, Phe!"

"Let's go, Ophelia!"

"Work it, girl!"

By the end end of the run, Ophelia has come in first by half a mile and record time. She even managed to break the boys record, much to Coach Baxter's chagrin as well as the boys.

Abi and Darcy ran to Ophelia, who didn't seem to be too out of breath from her accomplishment.

"You were crazy out there." Abi said.

"Insane beyond all comprehension." Owen added.

"Coach Baxter will have no choice but to make you captain. You out shined his precious boys choir." Darcy said.

"Thanks, I can't wait to see you try it. I'd really like to have a co-captain." Ophelia encouraged.

"I may not be as fast as you, but I think it won't be too hard. Aren't you hot?

"I'm sweating, aren't I?"

"It's the Dog Days and you just ran faster than the speed of sound. You should be drenched."

"Ice core, 89 degree body temp, it's a ghost thing."

"Cool." Abi said, pun intended.

"Just sit down and have a drink, you must be tired." Darcy advised.

"Oh please, I've run a lot faster than this for more reasons than a try out."

"I got it, Darce." Abi said with her hands on Ophelia's shoulders. She pulled her to sit down on the bleachers.  
"You, sit, drink, rest." she commanded.

"Yes, mother." Ophelia said as she rolled her eyes.

"Next group, set up." Coach Baxter instructed.

"I guess it's my turn." Darcy smiled.

"Let them have it." Abi said.

"Run swifter than the Tartar's bow, my Goodfellow." Ophelia joked. No one laughed.

The second group of runners took their positions on the track. Coach Baxter was getting ready to start the race. Just when he was about to start, a ghost ray was aimed at Ophelia. She was able to get out of the way in time and the bleachers exploded in her place. Everyone was running away from the field, leaving Ophelia and her friends alone with the assailant. It turned out to be Technus, escaping from incarceration to seek his revenge on the Phantoms.

"Now that I have freed myself from prison. I, Technus, master of all technology, shall seek my revenge on Danny Phantom and shall use his daughter to do so."

"Thanks for the heads up, Master of Giving Away Diabolical Schemes." Ophelia shouted, "Man, sometimes you can be worse than the Box Ghost."

"We'll see about that after I destroy you."

He shot another ghost ray at her, and she tried to deflect it with a shield. It was then that she remembered she still had the ecto-inhibitor stuck to her wrist. She still had an extra second to dodge away from the shot.

"Of course I still have the Cuff on when Technus shows up." she said to herself. "The only way this could get worse is if he decides to use it against me."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Technus said, letting her know that she said that a little too loudly. "You Phantoms really should've gone into teaching."

"My name is not Phantom!" she shouted back.

He snapped his fingers and Ophelia's inhibitor started to glow. Ophelia buckled in fatigue as she started to grow pale.

"Ophelia!" cried her friends.

"Funny thing about those inhibitors," Technus said to the frail young girl. "one little adjustment and they can completely eliminate the ectoplasm in your body. Knowing you physiology, it can be very deadly."

Ophelia was getting weaker, her floral scars showing violently through her white skin. Her friends watched in horror before running over to her to help. They tried to pry the bracelet off her only to get a horrible electrical shock. Owen tried again, only to get shocked out of consciousness.

"You need a code to get the inhibitor off." Technus said with a mocking laugh."A code I believe she doesn't know."

"Go find Coach Baxter and get the code off of him." Darcy demanded Abi. "And take Owen with you."

Abi immediately grabbed Owen and dragged him into the school as fast as she could. Darcy went back to trying to get the cuff off to no avail but a lot of electric shock. Out of nowhere, Cujo appeared by his mistress. He growled at the ghost, his small stature more comical than threatening.

"Do you really think an impish little dog can go against the Master of All Technology." He laughed into hysterics at the thought.

Cujo then grew from an adorable little green dog to a huge carnivorous canine with glowing red eyes and razor sharp teeth. Both Technus and Darcy were horrified at the sight of the beast.

"What on Earth is that!" Darcy exclaimed in shock.

Cujo then pounced at Technus, pinning him to the ground. He grabbed him in his teeth and shook at him viciously before tossing him into what was left of the bleachers.

As the fight continued Abi and Owen returned. Both were shocked at the sight of the large ghost dog.

"What _is _that?" Abi exclaimed.

"I think that is Cujo angry." Darcy explained.

"Ophelia was right" Owen said, "I never want to see him like _that_ again."

"Speaking of Ophelia, the code please!" Darcy demanded.

Owen knelt down to Ophelia, unable to take in the sight of the white skinned girl with floral scars on her face and body. He punched in the code before getting shocked and the bracelet fell off. The scars went away as Ophelia regained her color. She still wasn't awake and Owen held her in his arms. He carried her away in safety as Cujo continued to maim Technus within an inch of his afterlife.

After a few minutes of this, the police finally arrived with Danny Phantom not too far behind.

"Cujo, heal!" Danny commanded "I think he's had enough."

At his command, Cujo released the ghost from his jaws and he fell to the ground. Cujo then shrunk down to his adorable size and ran off to his youngest mistress. Ophelia was still unconscious and still in Owen's arms when Cujo jumped onto her. He licked her face until she finally woke up.

"Cujo!" Ophelia said excitedly, "Did you save me from that nasty ghost? Good boy."

She noticed that she was in Owen's arms and looked up at him.

"Hey Owen." she said sweetly.

"Ophelia! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little tired. Thanks for saving me."

"No problem. Anything for you, Ophelia. I mean.. I'd do anything for my friends." He blushed.

"That's nice of you to say. Now, could you put me down, please?"

* * *

After everything was cleared out with the police, and once Ophelia made it very clear to her dad that she was just fine, Coach Baxter announced that the try-outs will be continued next week for the girls who couldn't run before the chaos ensued.

Darcy was okay with it, as well as the other girls. Some of them had sprains from tripping over things when they ran, so they weren't in any condition to run today.

When everything was cleared up and Ophelia was in her running clothes, Owen went up to her.

"Ophelia." he said.

"Yes, Owen?" She replied.

"When you were weakened by the inhibitor, you had these crazy scars all over you. They looked kind of like roses. Can you tell me where those came from?"

Ophelia bit her lip. _How does this question always come up?_ She thought. She looked at her arms to see if they were still there. Luckily, they weren't.

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather not talk about it. All I can tell you is that like most scars, they have a long, painful story behind them."

"It's okay, you can tell me when you feel like it. I understand."

"Thanks, Owen. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay" he replied.

With that Ophelia grabbed her things and left. Owen watched her as she left. There was so much he didn't know about this girl. The more he would try to find, the farther he felt from getting to any answers. All he knew is that whatever she may be hiding, it must be something bad if she had scars to prove it.


	6. Bitter Reunion

A few blocks away form Willow street, Ophelia was walking her dog Cujo while her friend Darcy was walking her dog Baskerville. From past walks with Cujo, Ophelia learned that she'll have to end up running after him no matter what leash he's in. She wore comfortable shoes as well as jeans comfortable to run in. She wore a black t-shirt with the DP emblem in purple. The shirt was covered by a denim jacket. Darcy wore a long sleeved tee with the words "fight or flight" written in a font similar to the one seen on a Sex Pistols albums. She wore baggy yet form fitting pants and tennis shoes. Her short brown hair just brushing over her blue eyes.

"I'm surprised your parents let you outside anymore." Darcy said to her friend.

"Why's that?" inquired Ophelia.

"Well, you still have that hit on you and you've been attack like five times because of it. People in your position would either charge their name or have a crew of bodyguards follow them. Kids at school are keeping their distance from you so they won't get caught in any crossfires. It's amazing that you're going on our walks at all."

"Is that why people have been avoiding me? I thought it was because the jocks finally got the message that I'm not on the market." she joked. When Darcy didn't laugh, she continued. And for your information out of all those attacks, only two of them were made by actually assassins. The others were just some bad guys I was bringing down because of the whole Bystander Contract thing. All have which have been put to jail."

"The two assassins were broken out of jail, remember. You told me."

"They'll be just as easily sent back, but that is not my problem to deal with. Escaped criminals are the police's issue, that's in the job description. And another thing, if you thought I was so dangerous you wouldn't be going on these walks with me after dark. You shouldn't be worried about my safety when you don't worry about your own."

"Well, it's easier to walk Baskerville standing next to the human nightlight." Darcy smirked at Ophelia, who naturally glowed a little light that could only be seen in pitch black. She secretly wanted Ophelia to go on these walks with her so her parents won't force her to wear her hideous reflector jacket anymore.

"I know that you like hanging around me for more than avoiding you reflector jacket." Ophelia said as if reading Darcy's mind. "You shouldn't worry about me, the guys who put out the hit did this so he could scare me. I'm not giving him that satisfaction, and neither should anyone else. None of these hitmen will kill me, and it's not like their attacking me every day."

Just then, Cujo barked at an unseen party the same time Ophelia's ghost sense went off to said party. Ophelia groaned, indicating that the ghost was for her.

"Just whenever it is an inconvenience to you." said Darcy, half-worried.

Ophelia pulled out her cell phone and called the Thirteenth Precinct.

"Hello Officer Prez, tell Detective Gray that I found the fugitives. Their on Irving Street. Better hurry, or I'll have to do your job for you."

Before she could hear the officer's response, her phone was shot out of her hand and smashed to pieces on the ground.

"Drat! I was a month away from an upgrade."

The shooter showed himself as Skulker brandishing an ecto-canon as a part of his new suit. This one looked just about the same as the old one, but a little more bulky with new weaponry and upgrades.

"Speaking of upgrades, it didn't take you that long to build a new suit from scratch." Ophelia said. "I don't see why you were complaining earlier."

While she spoke, a red net was shot from behind her. Ophelia dodged the net and grabbed the rope attaching the net to the launcher.

"Hello, again." Ophelia yanked at the rope hard and pulled Vendetta out of a nearby tree.

Ophelia looked down at the human hunter with irritation. "It's Vid right?"

"My name's not Vid anymore, it's VENDETTA!" she cried angrily.

Skulker was about to fire something at Ophelia while her back is turned, but somehow she saw it coming. She turned to her little dog and commanded "Cujo, sick him!" The dog then transformed into it's monstrous form and barreled after Skulker. Skulker didn't exactly run away, neither did he fight back. He was more analyzing the situation before the ghost dog pounced at him. The next thing he knew he was in the dogs teeth.

While that was going on Vendetta and Ophelia were in the midst of their own fight. Vendetta decided to do hand to hand with limited weaponry, Ophelia accepted (less property damage).Ophelia decided not to use her powers, stretching the fight long enough for the police to arrive. Ophelia took the defensive, blocking every punch, kick, and chop swung at her. She ducked down and swung her leg to sweep Vendetta to the ground. Ophelia pinned Vendetta to the ground.

"Why do you want to work for him, anyway?" Ophelia asked, Vendetta struggling under her. "He ruined your career the moment you had one, he took you away from a normal life. All that, and he's mad as mercury drenched, fresh from the Wonderland looney bin hatter."

Vendetta didn't respond but instead got her legs on Ophelia's abdomen and kicked her off. Ophelia went through a window, without her ghost powers. She was covered by shards of glass and had cuts everywhere. Her clothes stained in crimson and coated in glass. Ophelia allowed herself to turn intangible to shake off the glass, allowing her wounds to heal.

"You owe me a new outfit." She said in restrained anger.

Ophelia did a couple of somersaults and kicked Vendetta while standing on her hands, sending her into Skulker who had just broken free from Cujo's vicious walked over to the pair with her dog growling right by her.

"I am getting sick of this whole 'billion dollar girl' thing and I want it to stop. I am willing to cut you a deal: I'll let you go before the police can arrive to cuff you on the condition that you resign from the hit and tell your boss for me that I want him to call off the hit."

"No way!" Vendetta cried.

"I'll never back away from a hunt!" Skulker said indignantly. "Especially if the prey is a whelp like you."

"I don't see a lot of hunting on your side, all I saw is me shredding your other suit to bits and your new suit as Cujo's new chew toy."

"Maybe this will change your opinion." Skulker said with a smirk. He pulled out a grenade from nowhere and tossed it at Darcy. Darcy had good reflexes, so she was able to dodge out of the way before it exploded. Unfortunately, Baskerville just stood there barking at the ghost and girl on the ground. Ophelia formed a shield around the large black dog, the grenade exploded on contact with the shield.

"Darcy!" Ophelia cried to her friend. "Take your dog and run home. Cujo will follow you."

She dematerialized the shield so Darcy could grab her dog and run. Usually, Darcy would protest at running away at moments like these. But having a grenade thrown at you and seeing your friend get thrown through a window makes you reconsider your "fight, no flight" mentality.

Ophelia turned to her monstrous pet. "Cujo! Guard!" was all she had to say to the post-mortem security dog. He gave what dogs do equivalent to a nod and galloped after Darcy and Baskerville. Ophelia turned to her adversaries, who were now on their feet and armed . She glared at them with malice, her eyes were green flames. The torn clothes and blood added to the girl's terrorizing look. The wounds were now healed, leaving only blood on her smooth skin. The blood looked like it belonged to someone else now that there were no longer cuts to prove it to be hers. All in all, she was a pretty frightening sight for a girl of her stature, and she knew it.

"You do not stick my friends in the crossfire!" she cried.

"No worries about that anymore, is there?" Vendetta said, unfaultering. "Just us now."

Ophelia's eyes burned brighter as two green swords materialized in her hands.

"Go on, dazzle me." she said mockingly.

* * *

Darcy ran straight to the Fentons' house when she escaped. She banged at the door rapidly as if someone's life was at stake. As far as she knew, there was.

Sam answered the door. She immediately noticed the absence of her daughters glow, and was concerned when she processed Darcy's frightened expression and Cujo's enormous size.

"What happened? Where's Ophelia?" was her immediate response.

Darcy was out of breath at this point, she had ran about five blocks without stopping or slowing down.

"Ghost... Woman...tree... Cujo...window... Grenade... Boom... Ran"

"How about you come inside and I get you some water. You can tell me the full story once you've caught your breath."

By the time Darcy had finished her story, Danny had returned from work. Perplexed at the scene he inquired about the situation. To save Darcy from retelling her story, Sam told him for her.

"Ophelia was walking Cujo with Darcy here when she was attacked by both Skulker and Vendetta. Ophelia was still fighting them when she made Darcy run home with Cujo following her. She hasn't come home yet, Danny. I think this is serious."

Danny's face darkened. Darcy had never noticed it before but he and Sam looked younger than they were. Instead of two people approaching their forties they appeared to have just graduated collage. Only when Danny's age show through with concern that Darcy realized their unusual youth.

"How long has it been?" Danny asked in a stern tone.

"About twenty minutes." Darcy replied, now truly frightened for her friend.

"Do you think she might be filing out a report?"

"She would have called." Sam said

"Skulker smashed her phone." Darcy explained

"She could've borrowed one of the officers phone or called from the station."

"Maybe she lost track of the time." Danny hypothesized. "Sometimes, after my fight I don't realize its been hours. I'll go call to check."

Before he could reach the phone, the doorbell rang. Danny answered the door to Detective Gray. She had she same darkened look Danny had.

"Mr. Fenton," she said to keep it professional. "Your daughter is missing and we suspect fowl play."

"What did you find?" Danny demanded.

"Blood, and lots of it. There were broken glass but it had smeared everywhere else."

"That could have been Vivian's all we know." He tried not to think of the worse.

"Danny, buds were sprouting from most of the blood. She may have had a good couple of rounds since there were ectoplasm and rubble, but the end result was clear. Ophelia lost the fight, Danny. He's got your daughter."

* * *

When Owen saw the police cars outside of the Fenton home he knew then was trouble. He ran over as fast as he could to see if the trouble involved Ophelia. The door was open so he didn't bother knocking. He saw Detective Gray with Darcy, she was apparently getting her side of the story. Sam was with Danny Phantom and they appeared to be arguing.

"I have to do this alone. I don't want him hurting you too." Danny said.

"He won't, I've been doing this just as long as you have. I've known him just as long as you have. I can handle myself. What I can't handle is sitting in the sidelines as the people I love get hurt."

"I won't Sam, I promise." Sam knew how good his word was, it had saved her life once.

"Can you promise the same for Ophelia?" she replied hoarsely.

"He can't do anything worse to her than what he had already done to her."

"You know just as well as I do that he'd think of something, and I'm not going to sit here and wait for you to bring her home to see his creativity."

Danny held her shoulders and looked in her eyes. Both of them saw pain and worry in their spouse's eyes.

"I can handle this, trust me." he said deathly seriousness.

After years of fighting and near death experiences, both have learned to trust each others judgement. If he didn't think he could handle it alone, he would ask for his help. Sam just looked away and stepped aside, she was letting him go alone.

He gave her a kiss and ran up stairs to Ophelia's room. Sam was holding herself, trying to fight back the tears. Owen walked up to Sam when he thought she had composure.

"I saw the police cars outside and rushed over here immediately" Owen said in a panicked voice. "What happened? Where's Ophelia?"

Sam nearly lost it when she heard her daughter's name. Somehow she managed to smile.

"Oh, hello Owen." she said. "We don't really know where Ophelia is, bit we know it's nowhere good. She got attacked by a couple of bounty hunters and they managed to capture her. Mr. Phantom is going to go find her with Cujo. He's an excellent tracking dog."

It took a while for Owen to process this. Ophelia was kidnapped. She was the bravest, strongest, most powerful girl he'd ever met. He couldn't believe what he just heard. He couldn't imagine her tied up by some villainous specter. He couldn't imagine those glittering emeralds dimmed pale in fear, or pleads of mercy uttered by those rose bud lips. He started to realize how he was thinking of her and snapped out of it. _What am I thinking? _he thought, _She's my friend,_ _and nothing more._

Danny came back with Ophelia's lucky goggles in his hand and Cujo at his feet. He knelt down and let Cujo smell the goggles. Danny opened a portal to the Ghost Zone and Cujo immediately picked up the scent, barreling straight to the portal.

"I'll make sure she comes home safe, Sam." He assured his wife. "I promise." He gave he a long, deep kiss and then flew into the Ghost Zone. The portal closed behind him.

* * *

It wasn't too long until everyone left the house, Valarie to her office to submit her report and Owen and Darcy headed home knowing nothing else to do at this moment. As soon as Sam was sure there was no one else in the house she ran to the den. There she rummaged through old boxes until she found what she looking for. The Fenton Boo-merang, a stupidly named device used to track ghosts. It was only locked in to one specific ecto signature: Danny's. She went to the garage where she kept the Specter Speeder. She looked inside and found the portal cannon her mother-in-law used to use. She fired it at the garage door and a portal opened to the Ghost Zone, large enough for the Speeder to fly through.

Sam turned on the Boo-merang and told it "Find Danny." she threw it and it went straight through the portal.

Sam got into the Speeder and started the rockets.

"You may be able to handle it, but I'm not letting you do this alone."

She drove the Speeder into the portal, it closed up behind her.

* * *

Ophelia was still unconscious when they arrived at the Client's lair. It looked like a cross between a medieval castle and a Victorian style mansion. They reached the door and Vendetta pushed the button. A screen turned on and a dark figure appeared.

"Did you acquire the target?" the figure asked.

"Lock, stock, and barrel." Skulker said showing to to videocom Ophelia chained up in a box made of energy.

"Good, come in." The large doors opened and the two went in, the box floated after them.

They met the figure in a large library. He was sitting in a large arm chair, back turned to them. He appeared to be staring into the large fireplace the shadows continued to conceal his face.

"Sir," Vendetta said, "we have the target here for you, she is very much alive."

The figure got up from the chair and walked up to the hunters. The light from the rest of the room revealed him to be none other than Vlad Plasmius. Like Danny and Sam, he hasn't seem to age as much as he should be. In fact, he looked the same as he had been twenty four years ago when he was mayor of Amity Park. He walked up to the glowing box to inspect the girl inside.

"My, has she grown over the years." Plasmius said, "Last time I saw her she was nothing more than a flying toddler. Get rid of the box but keep the chains, she can be very rowdy when she wakes up form her naps."

As he commanded, Skulker pushed a button on his wrist and the box dissolved. Ophelia fell to the ground and groaned a little, but she still did not wake. Vald knelt down and tried to lift the girl's face to see, but he was stung on contact with the blood on her face.

"Ahh! Why didn't you tell me she was bleeding?" he yelled at the hunters.

"We didn't think it was important." Vendetta said.

"What is that, anyway?" Skulker asked.

Vlad smiled as he resumed his human form and pulled a handkerchief to clear her face.

"Let's just say, she got into a little accident." Masters explained with a proud smile. "Now her blood is infused with blood blossoms."

He held the handkerchief and inspected the crimson stain before dropping it to the ground. Within seconds, black vines sprouted from the cloth and tore it apart. The vines soon grew thorns and leaves, and a single red flower bloomed heralding more to come. The two backed away, Skulker to in fear of the pain that comes with the plant and Vendetta in surprise.

"It's completely harmless inside her, as long as she in nowhere near fully grown blood blossoms. When close enough the blossoms inside react and quadruple the painful experience for her. Once the blood exits her body and touches the ground the vile weeds grows from the nutriance in her blood. Her blood reacts negatively with ectoplasm other than her's. It's quite fascinating, like a deadly poison used as a cure. She cannot be overshadowed by other ghosts and she cannot be touched once she is cut."

"Is that why you wanted her," Vedetta asked her employer. "So you can examine her blood?"

"My reasons do not concern you. Your job is done. You may go, the money will be wired to your accounts. Two billion each, I believe."

"Does that mean you can call off the hit?" Vendetta asked.

"I called it off the moment you told me you had her. The target has been required and the prize has been won, the hunt is over."

"Excellent." Vendetta smiled and then blasted Masters with an ecto-ray.

"What in the Ghost Zone is that!" Masters demanded.

Vendetta and Skulker had white rings appear around their waists. They moved up and down and disappeared above their head and below their feet. Before Vlad were three white-haired, amethyst-eyed Ophelias. Two of them them dissolved into the Ophelia who had posed as Vendetta.

"Long time no see, Plasmius." She said with a mocking smirk.

Vlad smiled as he once again took on his ghostly form.

"Did you just develop that power this morning? My, my, you are becoming more and more powerful every day, aren't you?"

"While you become more and more insane and lonely." Ophelia mocked. "What did you think would happen, Plasmius? I would be dragged in here, see how well you've handled yourself, how you've become so powerful over the years. You offer to teach me how to handle my growing and unstable powers and in exchange I become the daughter you never had and renounce my family. Did you expect me to accept you offer and somehow forget what you have done to me and my family all this time?"

"Something around those lines, yes." He then shot a set of ghost rays at her. She put up a shield to block them. She ran over and tried to give him an ecto-charged kick in the abdomen. He grabbed her foot and gave her a electric shock that spread into her whole body. She suppressed her screams so he wouldn't get the satisfaction of hearing it. She dropped to the ground once he let go. He kicked her over to have her lie on her back and stepped on her stomach. He looked her in her eyes, now blazing in fury.

"Look at yourself, Ophelia. Look at where you are. You are the first pure ghost-human hybrid in existence. You have powers beyond anyone's wildest imagination, including mine. The energy found in a single strand of your hair can outshine a nuclear bomb. Everyone has been afraid of your potentially devastating powers since the day you were conceived and you are wasting your talents on the Human Plane and in the Ghost Zone. No one can help you with your powers, especially not your father. He spends more of his time in space when he isn't playing were the last thing he ever paid attention to. He isn't even here to protect you, he never was. I have these powers longer than the two of you have even existed. I can teach you how to use your powers, I can protect you from anything and anyone that would try to hurt you to use your powers for their own personal gain. Join me, Ophelia. Become the daughter I always wanted and I'll teach you to become the most powerful being in the duoverse. All you have to do is renounce the name Fenton (or Phantom) and never see your friends and family again."

Ophelia just looked at him with her fiery purple eyes. She phased through the floor, lowering Vlad's foot to the ground. Before he knew it, he felt a purple ecto-ray explode on his back. The blast sent him flying to a very large book shelf. He managed to change over to his human form (equally as unaffected by age) and phased through the wall into the next room. Ophelia followed after him. The lights were off in this room so it was dark. The glow of Ophelia's body illuminated most of the room, reveling it to be a labyrinthian hallway. She couldn't see Plasmius (or rather Masters now that he was in his human form) so she used her sense to follow him. She shut her eyes and saw in the back of her head a glowing shape. The shape was human and she recognize the color of the glow to be Masters' (a near crimson magenta, like his ghost energy). She opened her eyes, the glow remained in her sight and now she can see the hallway. He seemed to be running so she followed after him.

"Do you really think I can turn my back on my family, my friends?" She shouted after him. "They are the only people in the world who don't treat me like something out of a comic book or some sort of doomsday weapon with a heartbeat. They never even call me Phantom. How do you even think you can train me? I have more powers than you with more and more coming in each day. My dad can't be there for me all the time, but at least he's taught me how to take can of myself, how to teach myself how to manage each power. That's how I mastered shape shifting so quickly. I will never join you and I will never turn my back on the people I care about. For even offering this to me I have one this to say, although I'm sure you've heard it before. Vlad "Plasmius" Masters, you are one seriously crazed up fruitloop!"

Vlad transformed into Plasmius and teleported right in front of her. He grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall. An ghost ray in his free hand illuminated the hallway in a megenta blaze. He looked angry and deathly serious.

"I don't need another Phantom as an enemy, two is enough. I either take you under my wing or take you out. And I guess you made that decision for me."

Ophelia tried to break free but his grip was too tight even for a ghost to break free, both hands glowing with energy. She closed her eyes as she flinched for the blow. When she closed her eyes she saw the black glowing figure and the pink energy for his hand. She sensed another figure in the house in the floor right above them. The glow of this figure was green, and there was a smaller figure glowing blue. She recognized both of them.

"Daddy!" She screamed, taking away the air still in her lungs. "Down here!"

This confused Plasmius as he couldn't see Phantom anywhere. His face changed when Phantom ecto-kicked him away from Ophelia and sent him flying further down the hallway. Ophelia fell down to her knees.

"Hey Plasmius, ya missed me?" Danny said.

_Horray for deus ex machina!_ Ophelia thought to herself as she coughed in air. Danny knelt down to his daughter and helped her up.

"You okay, Sweetie?" He asked with concern.

"A little beat up, a few bruises here and there." pointing to the dark red palm mark around her neck before the faded away "Nothing that won't heal of its own. You want any help?"

"Nah, I can handle the fruitloop. Just stay clear."

Ophelia nodded and Danny ran down the hallway after his long-time arch-nemisis.

"What's wrong, Vlad? Have I gotten too old for you that you have to pick on my daughter now?" He grabbed Vlad by the shirt and gave him a glowing green punch in the jaw, it sent him into a wall. Plasmius spat out some ectoplasm and got up.

"Your parents weren't too old to fight me and neither are you, Daniel." Vlad pulled a magenta sword from the air and swung it at Danny.

Danny pulled out a green sword and the two were in a sword fight. Ophelia sat with Cujo, watching the fight and cheering on her dad.

"Go, Dad! Teach that fruitloop a lesson!"

Danny and Vlad were at it for a good ten minutes, parrying swords and tossing along a few witty banters. Danny eventually able to knock the sword out of Vlad's hands and grabbed it. He used both swords to pin Vlad against the wall, Danny's eyes were flaming like his daughter's were.

"It's over, Plasmius." Danny spat with anger "You're going to be taken to jail where you belong."

"Are you so sure about that. Over the years I have become quite adapt to escape plans." Plasmius then turned to Masters and phased through the wall. The room shook as another pair of walls shut the two off from the rest of the hallway. They were tossed around in the box and then everything was still. Ophelia touched one of the walls and it fell down on contact. The rest of the wall followed, the ceiling attached to one of them. When the walls came down it revealed that they were on a barren rock in the Ghost Zone.

"He must have shot us out of his house." Danny theorized.

"Should we go back and look for him?" Ophelia asked.

"He must have moved the lair by now, it take us hours to find him. I'll call up the Observants to let them know what they are looking for. Are Vendette and Skulker still out there?"

"No, took them down easily. Skulker is in Walker's prison and Vendetta is in the Thirteenth Precinct. Sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want to tip off Vlad and lose the element of surprise."

"It's okay, I- OW!" At that moment, the Boo-merang hit Danny on the head. The Speeder followed shortly afterwards and parked right next to him. Sam came out and ran to hug both of them.

"Mom!" Ophelia shouted.

"Ophelia! Are you okay? Did Vlad do something to you?"

"I'm fine, Mom, don't worry. Dad saved me before anything could happen."

"Good." Sam then switched from happily relieved to enraged. "OPHELIA LILITH FENTON! What were you doing going after Vlad alone? You know well enough how dangerous that is, he could have killed you!"

"I'm guessing Valarie called you when they found Vendetta in their cell." Ophelia said with a guilty look.

"You're darn right she did! You are grounded, young lady! No phone, no friends, no garden, no Cujo, and no powers for two weeks. The only time you can leave the house is for school, and you come right back after. Got that!"

"Yes Mommy." Ophelia said, she was scared."How are you going to do the 'no powers' thing?"

"We fixed the inhibitor so nothing can hack into it. It can only be adjusted when we punch in a code to fix it. Now come on, let's go home. I'm cooking dinner tonight."

"Yes Mommy." Ophelia said as she walked in to Specter Speeder. Danny walked over to Sam and gave her a kiss.

"You didn't have to follow me, I was doing just fine."

"I know, but I just needed to see for myself."

"You have to admit, her plan was pretty clever."

"Yes, clever but dangerous. She got that from you, I hope you know that."

"I know. If she wanted to she would make a great superhero."

"I'm happy she chose to stay out of it, the last thing I need is two Phantoms getting hurt. If it makes her happy, and she stays alive, I'm proud of whatever she does."

They shared one last kiss before going into the Speeder. They flew home knowing that they had won a small victory. They may not had captured Plasmius, but they were able to get him to call of the hit and they now know where to look for him. Ophelia slept easier that night knowing that she didn't have to worry about people trying to kill her. Well, at least not as much.


	7. Team Spirit

After Ophelia's sentence was over, her friend Abi knocked on her door.

"Hey Abi, what can I help you with?" Ophelia said as she answered.

"Is it over, are you not grounded? Do you have your powers back?"

Ophelia held up her wrists to show that her inhibitor was gone. In it's place was her floral scar, a side effect of long-term use of the inhibitor. The effect wasn't too harsh because the skin was still smooth like the rest of the arm, the scar looked more like a henna tattoo. Still, Abi grimaced at the sight, remembering the last time she saw it on her friend's skin.

"How long will that be there?" Abi asked

"It'll be gone by tomorrow, this has happened before." Ophelia looked at it mesmerized. The only times she can safely analyze her scars is when she has the inhibitor taken off. She is always fascinated by the sight of. How could something so pretty be able to kill me? She would think to herself.

"Anyway," Abi said in her usual cheery voice. "I'm planning on trying out for the cheerleading squad and I want you to help me."

Ophelia used all her willpower not to laugh, her face red ad she held her breath. She then couldn't hold back anymore and burst into a violent fit.

"Sorry, but no." Ophelia said as soon as she pulled herself together. "I don't do cheerleading. I respect that you want to, but I count it as neither a sport or an art form."

"Oh come on, Phe. You don't have to actually try out, I just need you to stand in for me so I can show them that I can work with people and lift them."

"Can't Em or Darcy do it? They are pretty athletic and I don't think they weigh much."

"Darcy hates cheerleading and Em is stuck at play rehearsals. You are the only one available."

"No"

"Please, I was there for track try outs. I helped save your life."

Ophelia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Only Abi could use a near death experience as leverage. Ophelia was embarrassed by that day already, she always considered Technus a criminal of minimal threat. She's seen her dad fight him a hundred times before and thought he was hilarious shouting out all his plans just go be foiled. She had fought him before, in self defense, and had the same results as her fact he was close to killing her with her own ecto-inhibitor was mortifying to her.

"How long did you wait to pull oh that card?" Ophelia asked, smiling.

"I was going to use it last week but you were in the big house then."

Ophelia shook her head and giggled. "Okay, I'll help you with your try outs. But I'm not wearing the outfit and no pom poms."

Abi squealed and jumped for joy. "Yay, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, you won't regret this!" she ran down the door steps and skipped home.

_I'm regretting it already_, Ophelia thought to herself as she closed the door. She stared at her wrist as the scar started to fade away until it disappeared completely. _Whew, I was worried I was going to need bangles._

* * *

"Do you remember the routine?" Abi asked. She was in the locker room tying her shoes. She decided to wear something similar to a cheerleading uniform: a sporty tank and a pleated skirt with shorts underneath. She pulled her blonde hair in a ponytail, her turquoise eyes seems to be sparkling with anticipation.

"Yes, we rehearsed it a hundred times. It would be harder to forget the routine." Ophelia's arms were crossed as she looked at her friend. She dressed a t-shirt and knee-length pants. Her raven black hair pulled back into a ponytail with her bangs brushing right above her eyes. She didn't dress up like Abi did to make it clear that she wasn't here to show off, she was here to show Abi off.

"I'm nervous, what if they don't like it?" Abi was hyperventilating at the thought of rejection. Ophelia put her hands on Abi's shoulders and gave her eye contact. Abi wanted to look down to see if Ophelia was standing on the tips of her toes or just floated to be at her eye level. Abi was the shortest girl in her class until Ophelia showed up, and she reveled in the fact that she was at least taller than someone.

"Abi, you'll do fine. Your routine is pretty well choreographed for cheerleading. They would have to be extremely dense to reject you. Now, take a deep breath and calm down."

Abi did as Ophelia said. When she finally calmed she gave her friend a nod to show she was ready. They walked out into the gym where a panel of girls sat behind a table. One of the girls, Ophelia assumed to be the head, sat in the middle of the table. She had a dark complexion and curly hair worn down. Her caramel colored eyes were on a clipboard while she was biting on a pen.

"De Fluer, Abigail?" the head announced.

"Here!" Abi exclaimed, her arm waving in the air. She then grabbed Ophelia and dragged her in front of the table.

"What's she doing here?" said the head cheerleader "It says here that only you were trying out."

"Well, I am. But I need my friend here to perform my routine." She was getting nervous very fast.

"Okay, let's see it." the head then scribbled something on the clipboard.

Abi and Ophelia set up. "No flash photography or use of any recording device, please." Ophelia said before they started, she really didn't want to be there.

Abi started off. "Ravens strike, Ravens fly, Casper High Ravens will make you wanna cry. Fly, Ravens, fly."

Abi then did a back flip onto Ophelia's shoulders and then pulled one of her legs over her head. Abi then jumped off on a perfect dismount. Ophelia and Abi somersaulted to a spot. Abi got there first, Ophelia then duplicated herself and formed a pyramid around her. Abi held up all the Ophelia's easily and kept a smile on her face doing it. The Ophelia on top leaped down as Abi pulled herself out of the pyramid, another Ophelia was made to take her spot. Abi then did seven back flips until she reached Ophelia who flung her up to the top of the pyramid while she spun. Abi landed on the top without disturbing any of the Ophelias' balance. She store one leg for a minute then jumped straight up into the air. The Ophelia's dissolved until there were just two to catch Abi. Abi landed without falling over and the last of Ophelia's duplicate evaporated.

The panel was in awe of the performance, they applauded after a few seconds of silence. Abi was out of breath but happy. Ophelia was relieved to get it over with.

"That was great!" said the head cheerleader. "I haven't seen a routine like that in my life."

"Does that mean I'm in?" Abi asked excitedly.

"We'll let everyone know tomorrow, don't let your hopes too low."

Abi squealed, gave Ophelia a constricting bear hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wouldn't have done it without you!"

"That's what friends are for." Ophelia managed to say without oxygen in her lungs.

Abi then screamed and ran off to get changed. Ophelia just stood there and stared for a while. _As long as she's happy,_ she thought. She was about to leave when the head cheer leader walked up to her. Ophelia sensed something in the girl that made her feel suspicious.

"Great job there, Phantom." She said in a falsely sweet tone.

"Not Phantom, but thank you, I guess." Ophelia answered. _She wants something..._

"You would make a great addition to the squad."

"What about Abi?"

"She's good, better than anyone I've seen. But you were better, with that trick of yours we would be the best squad this school has ever seen."

_It's always about the ghost powers._

"Abi is your cheerleader, not me. All I did was hold her up and duplicate myself. And besides, the school board has banned me from using my powers in any activity that counts as a sport. They count cheerleading as a sport for some reason."

"The Board is an easy fix, and I see potential in you."

"Sorry, but I don't do cheerleading." Ophelia was getting annoyed with this girl.

"Look, Phantom, I can afford to bring more than one person into my team. I can also afford to deal with less."

"So you won't take in Abi unless I join the team, is that it?" Ophelia's eyes were sparkling in anger.

"It's you choice kid, you can choose to accept it or don't. But I don't believe Abi will handle the rejection so well."

Ophelia stormed off, she cannot believe what this girl was saying. She's willing to corrupt the school board and break Abi's heart to get Ophelia on team. She didn't even want Ophelia either, she wanted the ghost powers.

* * *

"What a witch!" Kitty said.

Ophelia was in the Ghost Zone. When she was grounded, she was also forbidden from going into the Ghost Zone and seeing her friends. She went over as soon as possible. She wanted to have some fun while she was here, but the ordeal with the head cheerleader upset her too much and she had to tell her friends as soon as she saw them.

"I know,right? I can't just say no, Abi really wanted to be on the team."

"Why can't you just say yes?" Asked Trix, "Cheerleading sounds like fun to me."

"Other than the fact that I hate cheerleading with a dying passion, it's also the principal of the matter. This girl thinks she can do what she wants and push people around. She doesn't even want me, she wants my powers. She wants to my powers to dazzle the crowd, and my powers aren't just parlor tricks."

"That's it!" Kitty exclaimed.

"You want me to offer the Queen Bee of Hearts to take Trix into the squad instead if me, right?"

"I would love to." Trix looked more than excited. "I never had cheerleading in my day, or I think I never got to be one. Anyway, I've seen it around my line of work and it looks like fun. And if I get an opportunity to know one of your human friends in the process, then that's an added bonus."

Ophelia stared at her orange haired ghost friend in disbelief. _She can't be serious_, Ophelia thought,_ who would want to be treated like a special effect?_

"Are you sure about this, Trix? This would be like Fantastic Fake all over again. I wouldn't want you to go through that ever again, especially for me."

"Ophelia, I love doing tricks. I love to entertain the masses. The issue with Finn was that he turned it into slave labor and wouldn't let me go home. I'm sure that won't happen here, so you have nothing to worry about. Besides, what could a bunch of human teenage girls possibly do to me?"

Ophelia smiled weakly. She knew her friend was right on some level. The cheerleaders wouldn't make her do anything that she wouldn't want to do originally and if there was they would have no way to force her. She did want her friends to be happy, and if Abi and Trix hit it off it would ease the tension she felt between her ghost friends and human friends.

"Fine, I'll see if she'll let you join. But if I sense any trouble I'm getting the thing shut down."

Trix squealed for joy and hugged the half human tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You wont regret this, I promise."

_I know I've heard this before._ Ophelia patted Trix of the back.

"I think you and Abi will get along just fine."

* * *

Em managed to finish her rehearsals early that afternoon and decided to join her friends in watching the cheerleaders practice. She went out to the football field and found Ophelia and Darcy resting in the bleechers a little ways away from the rest of the Track team. She took a seat right next to Ophelia as she watched the cheer squad practice. Abi was in the middle of the group and doing well on her part. There was a girl right next to her that seemed familiar to Em. She had bright orange hair in a bob cut, and her eyes were blue. Em leaned over to Ophelia to ask if she recognized the redheaded girl.

"Don't you remember?" Ophelia said with her eyes still on the field. "That's Trix, the magician ghost. She made herself look human so she wouldn't stick out amongst the squad."

Em looked at the redheaded girl again. It really was her, a human version of her. She didn't look that different, but the appearance of life in the ghost completely threw her off.

"Can all ghosts do that?"

"Not a lot and few bother to use it. Trix is lucky she can alter her appearance, and so is Abi."

"Why is that?" Darcy asked.

Ophelia then explained to them the incident during the try outs and the deal she made with the cheer captain.

"I don't know how, but she manage to pull the right strings to make Trix a Casper High cheerleader. She's ambitious, I'll give her that."

"And heartless," Em said indignant, "I can't believe she was about to toss aside Abi like that. I've seen you two rehearse the try out routine, she's amazing."

"Abi is amazing, but she can't do spectacular things like ghosts can. Or half ghosts."

"Cheerleaders," Darcy huffed, "they think they can do anything they want because they're so pretty."

Ophelia was fixed on the cheer captain, there is something really wrong with that girl. Ophelia tried to read the girl but barely anything came up, it was like something was protecting her from Ophelia's sense. That made her very suspicious.

"Do you guys know anything about the cheer captain?" Ophelia finally asked her friends.

"Portia?" Em replied, "Nobody knows anything about her really. She came into Casper High like the rest of us, but nobody ever saw her before that. There is no real history before the ninth grade, it was like she just appeared out of nowhere."

"Nobody ever thought that was suspicious?" Ophelia thought that would draw somebody's attention. She is one of the most popular girls in school and has no personal background. How does that not make anyone suspicious?

"No, not really. I don't know why but nobody really wants to know who Portia Geist is."

Ophelia's eyes widened as she stared at her friend in disbelief.

"Her name is Portia Geist? This girl drops out of the sky, takes over the popular crowd over night and nobody noticed that let alone the fact that her name is PORTIA GEIST! That is a dead give away if I ever saw one, no pun intended."

"I don't get it." Em said.

"Me, neither." Darcy added "What is wrong with the name Geist."

"Nothing, just forget about it."

Darcy and Em shrugged at each other and continued to observe their friends' practice. Ophelia watched too, but she was thinling.

_She must have something to mask her, like Dora's ring.I shouldn't worry about this, she should attend high school like everyone else. If she wants to keep it a secret and be treated like a normal human being than best of luck to her. She is not my problem._

* * *

Trix was having the best time of her afterlife. She had nearly forgotten what it was like to be a human, she couldn't even remember being one.. Everyone was so nice to her, especially Abi. Ophelia manage to let Abi in on the deal without mentioning the blackmail. The girl helped her with the routine after practice. She was the best help, Trix didn't know what she would have done without her. After practice she went over to hang out with Ophelia's human friends over at the Nasty Burger. They talked to her as if she really was human, rarely asking questions about her or the Ghost Zone. She willingly explained in exchange for questions of her own, there was so much to learn of the Human Plane and so much time for it. Ophelia was quiet, however, she just sat there and watched them speak. Trix was a little worried, but she assumed that Ophelia was processing the interaction between her friends. It wasn't until they had reached her realm in the Ghost Zone that Trix had got her to talk.

"Is there something on your mind, Phé?" She asked.

At the moment, Ophelia was playing one of the magic props in the parlor.

"Huh?"

"You were very quiet today, any particular reason why?"

Ophelia sat there in silence for a moment before speaking.

"You know the head cheerleder who we made this deal with?"

"Portia Geist, what about her?"

"Well I think she herself is a ghost."

Trix didn't know how to respond, her reaction was somewhere between shock and laughter.

"What makes you think that?"

"My parents would tell me of these times where ghosts would try to pass themselves off as humans, and Portia fits the bill nicely. She has no personal background that anyone knows of, she rose to popularity without anyone noticed and her name is Geist for Pete's sake. It isn't a neon sign or anything, but does say 'I'm a ghost' at a high volume."

"Are you planning on doing anything about it?"

"What is there to do? It isn't illegal for ghosts to attend school and she hasn't done anything wrong other than blackmailing me. She should be able to play human if she wants to and I'm not obligated to investigate."

Trix was perplexed at this. A teenage ghost passing herself off as human, not the worst thing to happen. But still, why would she want to hide herself?

"How about I talk to her about it the next time I see her?" Trix concluded.

"Do what you want, she's in your squad. When you do, ask her about the mind manipulation. She must be worried to be found out as a ghost to push the whole school like that."

Trix nodded in assurance. Ophelia gave the ghost friend a hug and left for home. When alone Trix looked around her realm. She managed to return her realm back to the condition she had before she became Finn's assistant. Had the interior decoration of a San Fancisco townhouse, she rememberedthat she used to live in one when she was human. Every room is riddled with props and magic tricks, the walls had posters of magic shows dating back to the nineteenth century. A phonograph was playing a vinyl album of a band Ophelia introduced her to, she thought the sound of vinyl was better than songs downloaded from a computer. To say that Trix didn't like the classics would be an absolute lie.

The realm reacted to her emotions of joy and the windows let in golden rays of sunlight. The flowers in her rooms bloomed in vibrant colors and she heard birds chirping know that she didn't have any birds. Her realm made her feel so peaceful, that was what she wanted it to do. She rested on a sofa in her parlor, a rabbit hopped out one of her props and sat on her lap. She stroked the white fur while meditating over the day's events. _Curiouser and curiouser,_ she thought. She smiled as she let her realm lull herself to sleep (another human habit she decided never to break).

* * *

The next day, Trix spoke to Portia after practice had ended.

"Ophelia told me about you, Portia. She thinks you're a ghost and you're pretending to be human."

Portia's eyes widened, she looked around and moved their conversation farther from anyone's range of hearing.

"How did she find out?"

"You have no background and everyone accepts that. And your last name is Geist which to her is a dead giveaway. Why do you want to pretend to be human?"

"Because I am human now. I'm a changeling."

Trix's eyes widened, she knew what a changeling was.

"Who are your parents?"

"They _were_ Frank and Vanessa Collins, they died in a fire last year. I talked to the family lawyer and he gave me a new family here, as well as a new name and documents to back it up."

"Who did you replace?"

"Portia Collins, died when she was seven. Car accident."

"If the Agency finds out, they'll end up taking you back. You know they are very strict about those kind of things."

Portia looked upset at the mention of the word "agency".

"That's why I changed my name. My logic was that Geist would be so painfully obvious that they would think it was just coincidental."

"Not when your in Amity Park, it isn't. Don't worry, I'll only tell Ophelia and she knows how to keep secrets. She hates little injustices like these so you will be in good hands."

Portia gave Trix a huge hug.

"I thought she would, that's why I wanted her on team. But you're better than I expected."

"Thanks." She smiled.

* * *

"So?" Ophelia said when she caught up with Trix later that day. "What did she say."

"She isn't a ghost, not anymore."

"Anymore? Since when do people not become ghosts?"

"You haven't heard of changelings?" Ophelia shook her head, she had a feeling she was supposed to.

"You humans lose more children than you know. Whenever a child dies, they become a special kind of ghost called changelings. Whenever a couple loses a child, a changeling would usually take their place before the parents know it. They have a natural ability to make people think what they want them to think, parents believe that the ghost is their children. If the changeling is there long enough, usually about a year, they become human taking on the traits of the child they replaced."

"Is that what happened to Portia? She replaced a couple's real child and became human."

Trix nodded.

"Her parents died in a fire last year. The protocal for that is that if the parents died while the changelings are still underaged, or if the changeling dies before they became adults, they become ghosts again and return to the agency."

"There is an agency for this kind of thing?"

Trix nodded.

"There are so many children in the world as well as changelings that they needed one to stay organized."

"So Portia doesn't want anyone to know she's a ghost, or rather _was_ a ghost, because she doesn't want the changeling agency to take her back. Wait, what about Youngblood? He's this ghost kid I used to be friends with when I was little. Wouldn't he be a changeling too."

"He isn't, children only become changelings unless they want to become human or become a family again. Youngblood sounds like he loves being a ghost and a kid without parents to boss him around. There are a bunch of kids like that in the Ghost Zone. Honestly, I don't know a lot about this stuff. I just hear whispers about it here and there like most ghosts. I remembered when I died that a ghost asked how old I was, when I told them they said I was off by a year. They turned out to be part of the agency."

"So how many people were changelings?"

"Like I said, I don't know a lot about this. But I guess that it has to be one fifth of the world's population."

"Whoa! How does one fifth of the population walk around with memories of being dead."

"They don't. When a changeling hits puberty in human form they start to forget about their past life and afterlife. By the time they turn eighteen, they forget everything and cannot be taken back by the agency. You should've already known this, it's common knowledge in the Ghost Zone."

Ophelia sat on the sidewalk for a minute, trying to absorb what she had just heard.

_So much to learn about the Ghost Zone, _she thought,_ so much I don't know._

"I'll won't let anyone else know." she said. "She only has four years, it shouldn't be too hard to keep a secret for four years."

* * *

The next day, Portia Geist was no more. Ophelia asked around where she went, only for no one to remember who she was. Her locker was cleaned out, records gone, her position in the squad replaced by the next in command. She asked her friends and no one remembered who Portia Geist was. That afternoon, Trix came to practice and went to Ophelia after she counted heads.

"Where's Portia?"

"I dont know. No one knows who she was, it was as if she was erased from existence."

Trix's eyes widened in shock and she turned pale. Ophelia had a feeling of what she was going to say.

"Someone must have overheard us and turned her in."

"That couldn't be it. I would have sensed them if someone was, human or ghost."

"Then they must have caught with her then."

They stood there quiet for a while, guilt rained over them.

"We could have been great friends." Trix said with grief.

"Yeah, I feel the same way."

"I hope she gets sent to a good family."

"Me too."

For what felt like ages, they just stood there in silence. Although no one had died, they felt like they were at a funeral. The agency took Portia and her chance at becoming human. She only had four more years and now she had to start all over with a new family. And it was all their fault.


	8. Dream a Little Dream

Danny and Ophelia came home late that night. Danny had to do a little overtime on the station and Ophelia wanted to stick around having nothing better to do on Earth. When they arrived it appeared that the whole town of Amity Park was asleep. That was scarcely odd as it was about midnight.

"Even though I haven't needed to go on night patrol since high school," Danny said with a yawn. "I never really stopped getting over the insomnia thing ."

"I don't need to be up for anything." said Ophelia, almost too excited to avoid sleep. "If you want I could stay up with you until you get tired."

"No need, I'll be out in an hour. You should get some rest."

"I'm not that tired, I can wait an hour or so until you get tired."

"How about we both get ready for bed and see who stays up longer."

"Okay, be right back."

Ophelia ran up the stairs and Danny followed shortly after. He entered his room and found the familiar shape of his wife under the covers. She is so beautiful, he thought, no matter what she was doing. He was changing when he noticed that his wife's head was sparkling. He pulled the covers to find a helmet on Sam's head. He remember that helmet well. Before he could do anything a blue wisp flew out of his mouth.

* * *

Ophelia was brushing her teeth, already clothed in her purple night gown. She was thinking about the day she spent with her dad. It is true that she never saw him as much as she would like. But she knew he loved her more than the world and that made any time they spent together all worth while. Vlad was wrong, her dad was always there when she needed him.

She had just rinsed out the last bit of toothpaste when her ghost sense went off.

"It's probably nothing." she shrugged. There was no way she was wasting precious time with her father fighting some ghost who was just finding someone to scare.

Her attention was drawn when she sensed the ghostly presence inside her house.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" she angrily flew through her bathroom wall. She turned invisible so she can safely analyze the danger to see if she has to do anything.

The search led her to her parents bedroom. She found a swarm of green ghosts with their eyes sown shut. She remembered them as Sleepwalkers. She flew up to the ceiling and saw her dad fight off the Sleepwalkers with ease.

"The one night I can't sleep is the night you come knocking on my door." Danny said while blasting away the ghosts.

When she thought her father was handling it she phased into the other room. He must be somewhere in the house, she thought, she shut her eyes and used her insight (or, at least its what she calls her special sense) to find the ghost.

There were Sleepwalkers everywhere, there dull colors filling her parents room as well as hers. She wasn't too surprise that he was looking for her. He tasted her dream energy before, and it's a hard taste to quit cold turkey. She didn't sense him anywhere, which she thought was odd. She let herself turn visible, sensing no threat.

"Ah, so the ghost girl is also up late tonight."

She turned to face the night sky. When she looked a long ways up her green eyes met with the red of Nocturne's. He was smiling, not at all threatened by the girl that stood before.

"My, Ophelia, have you grown. And I see your scars have cleared away nicely. Though, I think I liked you better with them."

"Nocturne, I believe you have shrunk. Looks like the whole dream harvest thing doesn't pay as much as you want it to."

He smirked at her attempt to aggravate him, it was quite adorable.

"No dreams I have come across are the same as yours, I lose my appetite for them too easily. You don't know how addictive your dreams can be."

He snapped his fingers and Ophelia felt the Sleepwalkers form and grab her.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

She tried to radiate an electric shock, but it only tightened their grip. She found that intangibility doesn't work on them either. Nocturne lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes.

"So tense for a half ghost, maybe a little sleep will relax you."

She felt the mist enter into her eyes, making them heavy. She escaped from their grip and ran off. When she realized that no one was chasing after her she turned back. She was shocked to find herself in Nocturne's arms fast asleep.

"Whoa, how did I do that?" she said aloud.

No one stirred when she spoke. Nocturne held her in a more comfortable position and smiled at her sleeping face.

Ophelia threw a ghost ray at the ghost to get him to let her go. The blast just went right through him as if it had never happened.

"What on Earth?" she was confused.

"Sweet dreams, ghost child." he said while stroking her cheek,"where you'll be going you will never want to wake up. Take her to the house, he'll show you where to put her."

He gave the sleeping Ophelia to his henchmen and they went off as they were directed. Ophelia was shaking off the chills she got seeing him cradle her like a baby.

"Creepy, creepy, creepy." she said.

She flew off before Nocturne realized she was there and went to her parents room. She found her dad taking a breath from beating down the last of the Sleepwalkers. His eyes widened in realization that he had forgotten something.

"Ophelia!" he shouted, unaware that he was only two feet away.

"Dad, I'm right here." she said. He didn't react at all.

"Ophelia! I really hope Nocturne didn't get to her."

"Dad, I'm right here. Nocturne has got another me but I got away. Dad! Can you even hear me."

Danny walked through Ophelia and out the door. That scared her because she knew that neither of them turned intangible to do that. She turned to her mom, who was still asleep with the helmet on.

"Mom." she walked over and tried to shake her awake. When she touched her she was sucked into her mother's consciousness.

* * *

Sam had tamed herself a little when Ophelia was born. But she never lost her gothic livelihood. This is not reflected than in her dreams. Her dream world is a cross between the Ghost Zone and Halloween Town. In her dream she was Queen of the Dead, with Danny as her king. She was convicting a spirit who had eaten flesh when a girl in a night gown stood right between her and the accused.

"What the..?" Said the girl as she looked around.

"Ophelia? Wait, I don't have a daughter here."

"Mom, where am I? Do you dream like this every night?"

"Ophelia Lilith Fenton, what have I said about invading people's dreams?"

"I swear I didn't mean to. I just wanted to shake you awake but I somehow got sucked into your dream. I know you're a goth and everything, Mom, but jeez. This is like Tim Burton's nightmare or something and your dressed up like Morticia for Pete's sake!"

Sam's cheeks flushed.

"Why do you need to wake me up?"

"Nocturne put you under some helmet and Dad was fighting Sleepwalkers and I was knocked out by Nocturne a but yet I wasn't and I saw myself get carried away and he was totally creepy and Dad didn't see or hear me and them I tried to shake you awake and ended up in spooksville and I don't know what's going on!"

Sam blinked as her daughter was catching her breath.

"That sounds like you projected yourself out of your body."

"What?"

"Astral Projection, your consciousness escapes from your body and wanders the astral plane. Dad couldn't hear you because he wasn't on the same plane. I read a lot about this after my first encounter with Nocturne."

"How can I fix it?" Ophelia was freaking out.

"I don't know, this has never happened before. Your father can't even do this. My theory would be to enter your own mind and wake yourself up."

"How am I supposed to that? I could be anywhere by now and Nocturne said I wouldn't want to wake up to where I would be. It may not be safe to be where I am."

"Dear girl, you are not safe where you are now."

Nocturne loomed them in his tall stature. Sleepwalkers flanked him left and right, smiling at the two.

"My my Samantha, now I see where your daughter gets her looks from."

A chill came down Ophelia's spine while Sam flushed in rage and embarrassment.

"This is my dream, Nocturne! Get out!"

"I shall, as soon as she comes with me."

"Why do you want me?" Ophelia asked. "you already have my body."

"If you haven't noticed I'm the ghost of dreams not the ghost of empty bodies. I cannot harvest energy from a body that doesn't even have a consciousness to dream. I need you to go back into your body so I can harvest your dream energy. If you come willingly I'll make sure not to torture too horrifically with you tend to that yourself."

"Not going to happen, Creep."

Nocturne smiled menacingly.

"Sleepwalkers, attack!"

As commanded, the Sleepwalkers charged at the ghost girl. She used her ghost ray in a sweeping motion, taking out groups of Sleepwalkers. Sam helped her daughter take down the creatures. She was well equipped in her dreams, and highly skilled. Suddenly the weaponry was gone and Sam was bound and floating towards Nocturne.

"Have you forgotten that I can control all dreams?" he taunted

"Have you heard that I learned to control mine?" Sam then burst into flames, melting away the bondages. when she touched the ground she resumed to her normal shape.

Ophelia managed to break free from the mob of Sleepwalkers and pounced at Nocturne. Something stopped her from hitting him with an ecto-punch and held her up at eye level with him. Nocturne laughed maniacally.

"Silly ghost girl, your very presence fuels me. Any attempt you or your mother make in your dreams fuels me. As long as you are in this dream I am all powerful."

"Then I guess it's time to wake up." Ophelia took a deep breath before collapsing to the floor.

"Ophelia!" Sam shouted in shock.

The disturbing floral scars appeared all over Ophelia's face and body. Blood blossoms were starting to bloom through the cobblestone street right where she laid and started to spread all over. Nocturne backed away instinctively, but his Sleepwalkers weren't as thoughtful and were evaporated on contact with the blood red flowers. Sam ran to her daughter's aid on to be tripped over and entangled by a thorny vine.

"No! Ophelia!"

The last thing she saw before she woke up was Ophelia completely buried by the flowers.

* * *

Ophelia fell head first out of her mother's consciousness. Ophelia was trembling until the scream of her mother's awakening snapped her out of it. A pang of guilt hit Ophelia in the stomach as she watched her mother sobbed. She didn't want to make her mother cry, but that was the only thing she could think of at that moment that could scare Sam awake. When she realized that Nocturne would surely follow after her she started running. When she hit a dead end the flew all the way up to the rooftop, phasing through two floors without even turning intangible. When she made it to the top she looked over the houses.

Her insight must be stronger as an astral projection because all the house were glowing before her. They were like multicolored embers in a flame. When Ophelia looked closely into the embers, she saw silhouettes similar to shadow puppets. She decided that they must glimpses of peoples' dreams. She needed a place to hide while, she hoped, her parents track down and retrieve her body. She couldn't go too far or else she will never know if it's safe. And she couldn't exactly follow her parents as she wasn't sure whether or not Nocturne is able to see her outside a person's dream. She concluded in hiding in somewhere along her street where she would know when her parents returned.

A thought had hit her: she could look into her friends dreams. They all live on the same street as her, and she was always curious of what people dreamed of. She had a perfect excuse to look inside since they would make perfect hiding places. If Nocturne spots her in the dream, she could sense him coming and run.

Ophelia flew down a few houses until she found Mick's house. _This might be fun_, she thought as she phased through the wall. When she made it to Micks bedroom and checked if he was asleep. He was, but he had a helmet on. _I should have known he would supercharge himself with the entire city. At least this gives me another reason to look into his dreams._

With that she dove into Mick's mind and slipped into his dreams.

* * *

To say that Mick loved comic books had always been an understatement. When looking into his dreams made "fanatic" an understatement as well. His dreams looked like a comic book page, speech bubbles and all. It was separated into panels and nearly every action was emphasized by its onomatopoeia in bold face. Narration was in yellow boxes in between panels and the pictures announced it. It would be a shame if Mick never became a comic book artist if his dreams are directed like one.

In his dreams he was Mick the Mighty, a superhero who could double the physical strength of anyone he fought. He wore a basic superhero costume with a utility belt and an MM insignia on his chest. He was aided by his team the Mighty Many, a group of equally powerful superheroes. There was Em-azing, the crimefighting sorceress in fishnets; Punkrockette, the hard core rocker with a heart of gold and fists of bronze; Mirrorman, able to copy any power or weapon thrown at him; Barricade, impervious to nearly any force and can produce shields that can withstand just about anything; Gossip, the girls who knows anything about anyone. Last but not least was the newest member of the team, Ghostly. Adorned in the colors of her father, this half ghost had all the powers of the supernatural.

They were fighting against Mighty's arch nemesis, the sinister Quarterback, when Ophelia appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey Mick." she greeted cheerfully.

Mick the Mighty stopped in his tracks and stared at the girl in disbelief. She was barefoot wearing a purple night dress. Her black hair a little more disheveled than usual. What surprised him was not that there were two Ophelia's at all, he knew she could duplicate but still it was strange to see the two girls.

"Ophelia? What are you doing here?'

"A better question is what is _she_ doing here." Ophelia pointed to Ghostly, who was just as confused as Mick was. "Seriously dude, I'll let it slide this time because everyone is dressed up but how many time do I have to tell you: I am _not_ a superhero!"

Mick the Mighty transformed back to Mick Earnest as everyone else vanished, leaving just the two of them.

"Why are you in a nightgown?" he asked.

"It's a long story. Is it okay if I hide in here for a while?"

"Where's 'here'?"

"In your dream, you do know you're dreaming right?"

"Now I do." he grumbled. "Wait a minute, are you the _real _Ophelia?"

" I'm not sure how to answer that. I am her consciousness, I just developed astral projection as a skill."

"Do your parents allow this?"

"They wouldn't, but right now they are trying to get my body back."

"What happened to it?"

"Nocturne took it."

"Who?"

"Nocturne is the ghost of sleep, he gains power by 'harvesting' other people's dreams. He and my father go way back as do most of his enemies. He in particular is after me. He says my dreams are addictive because of their power or something of the like. Anyway, he's a total creep and had absconded with my body. Now I need a place to hide while my parents get my body back."

"Why are you hiding here then? Why can't you hide in the Ghost Zone or something?"

"Because one: I have to be near the house so I'll know when my parents bring my body back; two: your have one of Nocturne's dream pumpers on your and I need to shock you awake to get it off; and three: I thought your dreams would be interesting to say the least."

Mick was red faced by both embarrassment and anger. Both were because a girl just invaded his privacy ad looked into his mind.

"What are 'dream pumpers' and why can't you just rip them off my head?"

"They are special helmets that allow Nocturne to drain the onieric energy from more than one person at a time. Normally, they give off an electric shock to anyone who tries to touch it, but I can't even touch you as a projection."

"Okay" said Mick as he pretended to understand what she was talking about.

"So, is this what you dream about every night?"

Mick blushed a little as he looked around at his dream with Ophelia. "Not always, but my best dreams are like this."

"Do you always dream of your female friends scadily clad like that?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"DUDE! All I saw was skin where I was standing and I wasn't standing too far away."

"I've seen you in worse."

"There are comics where I'm dressed like THAT! And you didn't even bother to TELL me!"

"If you haven't noticed, a lot of the guys think you're gorgeous.

"I'm not gorgeous."

"You're not ugly, either. To us nerds, 'not ugly' means 'pretty'. It shouldn't surprise you that nerds think about girls, _a lot._"

Ophelia blushed as her visibility faded.

"So comic book geeks think about me like this..."

"a lot"

"Now I miss being home schooled."

Mick laughed. He didn't care too much for her in a romantic he got to know, he realized that she is as asexual a being as a storybook fairytale. Maybe that's why they called her Phe, because of her fairy like qualities. His superhero version of her is nothing like the skimpy outfits he saw on comic book covers and fan art. He dreamed of her in something like he saw in the magic girl manga his little sister that moment, Ophelia's ghost sense went off.

"Darn, at least I get a head start this time."

"Is he coming here, in _my_ dream?" He was starting to panic a little.

"Not if I can shock you awake. Let's see, what is the most shocking thing I could do in such a short amount of time... Oh, I know."

White rings formed around Ophelia's waist and climbed up and down until they vanished at the toes and head of Abi de Fleur. "Abi" gave Mick a peck on the cheek and the shock woke him up.

* * *

Cujo was a great tracking dog. In no time flat they found Nocturne's hideout. It was an abandoned sleep clinic on the outskirts of town.

"Why do the bad guys always pick the most obvious place for a hideout?" Sam scoffed.

"Why do most of the hideouts have to be in the outskirts of town?" Danny added. "Are you sure Ophelia is safe?"

"Physically, no, she's in the spooky abandoned hospital. Consciously, she may have gotten away, but Nocturne's may be on her tail. So we have to move fast."

Danny nodded as he picked up his wife and turned invisible. They flew up to the room of the hospital with the light on and phased in. They remained invisible as they looked around the was still asleep and encased inside a large chamber. Danny shuddered when he realized it was the same kind of chamber Vlad used to try to clone him all those years ago. Wires were stuck to her in random places as her brainwaves and life signs were monitored. Her brain waves were very strange, her parents assumed it was because of her missing doors of the room swung open as Vlad Plasmius walked into the room.

"Plasmius!" Sam whispered.

"Why would Nocturne work for Plasmius?" Danny whispered.

"Why would Plasmius need Ophelia asleep?"

Plasmius looked at Ophelia as a Sleepwalker appeared by his side.

"Is everything ready?" Vlad asked. The Sleepwalker nodded.

"Excellent. Once her consciousness comes we can operate. All her little notions of love and loyalty to her family will change after a few hundred nightmares. A little brain surgery wouldn't hurt either. By the end of the procedure she will be loyal to only to me, and be more than happy to destroy the ones she once held so dearly."

An ghost ray hit him square in the chest and was knocked across the room.

"You will not lay a hand on my daughter, Plasmius!" Danny said as he made himself and Sam visible.

"Sorry Daniel, but there are no visiting hours today." He blasted Danny back and Sam got out of the way.

Danny shot back at him, only to be deflected by a pink ecto-shield.

While Vlad was distracted in the fight, Sam crept over to her daughter trapped in the chamber. She looked at the panel and tried aimlessly hacking into the panel to open the chamber door.

"Ugh, where's Tucker when you need him!"

When she tried to blast the door with her wrist laser, the Sleepwalker grabbed her wrist. She kicked the ghost and sent him flying, she then shot a blast form her wrist ray and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Bulls eye!" She smirked.

She once again tried blasting at the chamber door, but it bounced off the door and hit Danny as he flew straight at Vlad.

"Sorry honey."

"Try all you want, Samantha." Vlad mocked, "I've had that thing made to contain your daughter and her powers, I doubt a mere human with a cute little bracelet could be able to open that thing."

Danny knocked the villain to the next room, giving Sam more time to break the thing open. Halfway into what she hoped would get the door open she turned her head to see and army of Sleepwalker standing by her. She stared at the immense population wide-eyed.

"This is going to take a while." she said.

* * *

Ophelia had just jumped from Mick's dream to Abi's dream to Wall's stopped when she reached Darcy's house. She looked at the sillohuette of her friend's dream. It looked like it was lit by a gas lamp. The shadow of and old-fashioned car driven by a girl in a victorian style hat and hair.

_This looks promising. _Ophelia dove in, glad that Darcy had a helmet. She could get away with the whole "hiding from a crazed dream ghost" thing with most of her friends, but Darcy wouldn't buy that story even on her best days. She dove into her head, hoping that this time she would be able to hide a little longer than the other dreams.

* * *

Detective Darcy Adler drove to the crime scene where she was met by her companion Emilia Yume. The police allowed her to investigxate and within minutes she gathrered enough evidence to get a suspect. The police scattered to gather the suspects for questioning, leaving the two girls (actually three) alone. Darcy noticed a girl in the garden. Darcy walked over to the girl, annoyed at her presence.

"Ophelia, what are you doing here?"

Ophelia looked up and smiled.

"Who do I play in your dreams? Am I a Lestrade, a Moriarty, a grief stricken client? I would ask if I am an Adler, but I have a feeling you doublecasted yourself."

"I think your parents must have a rule for invading other people's privacy."

_Wow she's good._

"They do, but tonight is a special exception."

"What makes tonight so special?"

_And for the sixth time tonight..._

"Nocturne stole my body, and about everyone on Willow street has his special helmets used to 'harvest' their dream energy. I need someplaced to hide that isn't that isn't out in the open. I've seen everyone else's dreams, with the exception of Owen, I thought it would be safe in a friend's dream. I won't be long through, at least I hope not."

"What if Nocturne comes?

"Then I'll wake you up to get the helmet off you, and take my leave."

"Why can't you just pull the helmet off?"

"Well first I'm only an astral projection, I can't touch anything outside a human consciousness. And second the helmet can't be touched anyway, it gives off an electrical discharge whenever someone tries to touch it."

Darcy thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.

"Okay, I'll buy it. You can stay, but you have to go along with the dream. You should have come here last night, I was dreaming about that play we saw the other night."

"Midsummer's Night Dream? Em was dreaming about that, you were Titania and I was Puck. You protrayed your character very well."

"She casted me as the fairy who falls in love with a guy with a donkey head?"

"Don't worry, Owen played Bottom. I think it was because she had nowhere else to put him. So what's the case, boss ma'am?"

"Well this one is particularly interesting, it's involves an magic coven and the Queen's prized jewels."

"Are there ghosts in this dream?"

"Strangely no, ghosts weren't declared real in Doyle's time. I like to keep as close to the stories as I can. Sometimes I put ghosts into the story, but this one is about skepticism so ghosts would mess up the story."

"That makes sense, so I shouldn't use my powers then."

"Probably not, but you can when you make to. The dream is steam punk so I can mix in a little sci fi in there."

"No need, I'll be good."

They smiled and walked to the car, Em followed them. During the drive Em was filled in.

* * *

Sam was getting closer to getting the chamber open. A while back, Tucker taught her and Ophelia how to hack into gadgetry. Sam was only helf paying attention while Ophelia got the whole trick down in minutes, needing only to be taught halfway and finding out the rest on her own. If only she and Ophelia could trade places right now. Even better, if only Ophelia wasn't in the chamber in the first place.

Cujo was in guard mode and taking down any Sleepwalker that tried to attack Sam.

Danny was in an intense fight with Vlad a few floors down. They were equally matched, neither being able to get an advantage over the other.

"Looks like you caught up with me, Daniel. How long did that take you, ten, maybe twenty years? I wonder where your daughter was when you were perfecting your skill?"

"Shut up about my daughter, Plasmius!" Danny was in a fury, giving a little advantage over Vlad.

"That poor little girl, left at home while her parents were away. Bad things can happen when a child is alone."

"She wasn't alone, she had her grandparents. She was safe until you came along."

"Don't be foolish, Daniel. She will never be safe so long as she is your daughter. She is the most powerful being to ever exist. Power is threatening, and how long do you think it will be until everyone is scared of her?"

"She has done nothing wrong to anyone. She would never do anything to hurt anyone, any injustice you think she has done to you is in your own madness."

"Is it? The Observants were wary of you existence to start with, I believe they tried to kill you a couple times in the past. They must have been horrified to hear that Sam was pregnant. The day will come when the pressure will be too much for her to bear and she will snap."

"And you think it justifies what you did to her? She had to be home schooled for years because any time someone would ask about her scars she would break down in tears. All chances of a normal childhood was taken from her because of you."

"All chances of a normal anything was taken from her once she bore the name Fenton. Face it, Phantom, the day will come when she looks around her and wonder why she can't just take it. Will you be able to take her down when it does?"

"LEAVE US ALONE!"

He let out a ghostly wail that sent Vlad flying to the wall. His powers shorted out and he lost consciousness. It took a while for Danny to stop and when he did the foundation of the building shook. He grabbed Masters and phased to the room where Sam had just got Ophelia out of the chamber. Danny grabbed Sam and Ophelia and phased out of the building with Cujo following suit. They landed on a hill in view of the collapsing building.

"Maybe that's why they always pick abandoned places," Sam said "it's easier to close shop in a crumbling building."

"Ophelia is safe and we finally caught Vlad, all in all I'd say this was a pretty good night."

Just then Vlad disappeared in a puff of pink mist. Danny screamed out in fury.

"It was just a dulicate! That's why it was so easy to fight him!"

"Danny, calm down. Ophelia is safe, that's all that matters. We'll get Vlad another day."

"We better get home before Nocturne catches up with her. He can still feed off her consciousness with or without a body."

Sam had Cujo grow and loaded Ophelia onto his back and she rode home on him. Danny looked back at the rubble, contemplating what Vlad had said to him.

_The day will come when she looks around her and wonder why she can't just take it. Will you be able to take her down when she does?_

He half smirked at that. He knew that Ophelia would never become evil. The day she was born was the day all the shadows of doubt in his head went away. She was a blessing if he ever saw one. He wanted to rip Vlad apart for even thinking that she would be like him. Danny put his thoughts aside and flew home.

_Well get him. Be it today or tomorrow, we'll get him._

* * *

Darcy and Ophelia were closing down the case as everything around them vanished in a puff of smoke. The only thing was the night sky in a humanoid shpae and red eyes.

"I am getting a little tired of this game."

His hand wrapped around Ophelia's neck like a tentacle and he pulled her close to his face.

"What, aren't you having fun?" She mocked.

His red eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on her neck.

"Put her down." Darcy demanded. "You have no right to invade my dreams. Please leave, now!"

If the rest of his face was visible, a smile would be shown from ear to ear. He dropped Ophelia with a hard thud he melted into a puddle of starry inc and slithered towards Darcy once he was close enough he resumed his form, his red eyes piercing into hers.

"Do you really believe you have control over your dreams? I am the ghost of all dreams, I know every dream you've ever had including nightmares. I know all you fears and feed off of them every night. I can make your life miserable and you have the audacity to tell me to leave. I think that is very amusing."

The scene change into a pink room, a perfectly square that was fully lit by an unseen light source. Darcy started to shudder, seeming to know what was going to happen.

"Darcy, what's happening?" Ophelia asked. As she did the walls, ceiling, and floors started in close in making the room smaller. Darcy was paralyzed with fear.

"You're claustrophobic? I would have never known."

She went over to Darcy and held onto her, turning her tangible. She dragged Darcy through the walls right when they were about to be crushed.

"Darcy, hey, Darcy. It's okay, we're outside. No walls, see?"

They were in the middle of a forest. The tall trees were evenly spaced and the sunlight bled through the canopy. Darcy calmed a little enough to stand up.

"Sorry you had to see that, I just can't handle enclosed spaces. I could feel the air thinning while I was in there. You're lucky you have those ghost powers, you just walked out of the room like it was nothing. Just know that you are blessed."

"Thanks," Ophelia said hesitantly, "I'll keep that in mind. It's okay to be scared, I have my own fears. The trick is to not let it get to you."

"What fear could you possibly have that's worse than the stuff you see every day?"

"This!" Nocturne's voice boomed through the woods.

Thorny vines wrapped around the trees and crept towards the young girls. Ophelia backed away a little, visibly trembling in fear. She grabbed Darcy and shot them into the air. They landed in the highest branch of the tallest tree. Both girls looked down at the ever growing black sea.

"Ophelia, what's going on? What are those things?"

Ophelia didn't hear her, she only stared at the vines as they climbed up their tree. As they got closer, the vines budded and bloomed blood red flowers. They looked a great deal like roses, though somehow Darcy could tell they weren't. Ophelia backed away to the trunk of the tree and slid down. She covered her eyes, shaking violently.

"They can't be real." she whispered "This is only a dream, nothing here can be real."

"They may not be the real flowers but they can still hurt you." said Nocturne from afar, too far to be affected by the flowers.

The flowers were getting closer to turned completely white in fear an if her eyes were open, they would be as dim as dead coals. Her scars showed, starting from her toes and spreading to her legs, torso, arms, face. Darcy stared at them and couldn't help but notice how similar the scars looked to the flowers making their way to them.

"Is that what caused the scars, those flowers down there?"

Ophelia looked down at the red weeds and then back up at Darcy.

"Sorry Darcy, but I have to wake you up."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because of this."

She pushed Darcy off the tree. She woke up halfway down.

* * *

Instead of getting a head start, Ophelia waited for Nocturne to come out of Darcy's consciousness. He slithered out like a mist and she blasted him through the roof once followed him.

It was now dawn, the sky turning a deep shade of violet. The stars in Nocturne's body faded as the sun was peaking through. His eyes still glowed res, brighter now against his nearly pure black body.

"What's this Ophelia, tired of running around all night?"

"Shut it, creep. That was crossing the line, now I want to fight. It's time to take you down."

His face showed now, and he was smirking.

"I believe this is where I should say 'in your dreams'."

She smiled as her hand glowed, a portal opened behind him. She blasted him square in the chest that sent him into the portal.

"It's morning, no time to dream."

Ophelia saw as the shadows in the embers faded as everyone was starting to wake up. The only house that still had shadows was Owen's.

_What has he been dreaming about this whole night?_

Ophelia flew into his room. It was covered in drawings of the Ghost Zone. Owen was an amazing sketch artist, when Ophelia saw is doodles in class she decided to give him pictures she took of the Ghost Zone. He was amazed by the pictures as he had never seen the Ghost Zone before. The drawings provoked the same feeling of awe he had when he saw the pictures. By his bed was a picture of him and Ophelia when they were on their class field trip to the botanical gardens. A sketch book had drawings of his friends he made from memory, it was open to a picture of Ophelia with her green eyes colored in. Ophelia didn't noticed this. She did notice that he wasn't wearing a helmet.

_He must have skipped this house. Guess I don't have an excuse anymore._

She turned herself invisible as she dove into his dream.

* * *

Ophelia found herself back at the botanical gardens_, _there was nobody there. The sound of chirping birds and running water from a fountain filled the air. Then there was laughing. Ophelia followed that sound to Owen and a dream version of herself sitting by the fountain laughing.

"This was a great day, Ophelia." Owen said, "I'm glad I spent it with you."

"Thanks Owen," the dream Ophelia said. "I just love seeing all the flowers bloom here."

"Except for the red ones."

She giggled at that.

"Yeah, except for the red ones."

"So Ophelia, there is something I wanted to tell you for quite some time now."

"What is that?"

Owen held her hand and looked at her sparkling green eyes.

"From the first day I knew you, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever met. I care for you, more than you might know. Every day afterwards I think of ways to spend it with you. Any day I don't get to see you it feels like eternity. Whatever future you might have, I want to be in it."

The dream Ophelia looked down.

"Owen, I don't think this will work. I'm dangerous to be around. You've seen what happened when I went for a walk with Darcy. And that time with Technus. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you."

Owen held her hands up to shoulder level. The dream Ophelia looked up her eyes were watery.

"You always worry about other people and never about yourself. You keep your distance hoping nobody gets hurt caught in the crossfire. I don't want you to be alone because of your own fears. I don't care what happens to me, as long as I know that you aren't alone."

The tears streamed down the dream Ophelia's face and she fell into his arms. He held her tight, smiling peacefully.

The real Ophelia looked on in shock. If she were visible, her cheeks would have been bright red.

_Is that how he dreams about me? Is this how he feels about me this whole time? No wonder Mom calls me clueless._

A hand rested on her shoulder. Looked up and saw her father.

"Let's go, we've got your body and it's about time you need some sleep."

Ophelia nodded, they walked away from the scene as it started to fade away from Owen waking up. The last thing Ophelia saw before Owen woke up was he and her dream self leaning in towards each other, eye closed and lips puckered.


	9. Big Sister

She was wary when seeing him pass her by. She was careful what to say to him, worried it might steer him the wrong way. She couldn't just avoid him, could she? Whenever she saw him she considered turning invisible so she wouldn't have to talk to him, sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't and risked talking to him.

Ever since she saw Owen's dream, Ophelia was scared about talking to him about it. She knew he didn't see her in his dream, and that he wasn't aware that she could enter people's dreams at all. She let her other friends know not to talk to him about their encounters with her in their subconscious.

"Why?" Abi pressed on, "You all went into our minds to get those helmet thingies off of us. Didn't you have to let him know you were in his mind to wake him up?"

"He wasn't wearing the helmet." Ophelia admitted, "I invaded his privacy for no reason than my own curiosity. And don't think he would want to speak to me again if I told him what I saw."

"Well, what did you see?" asked Wall.

Ophelia's eyes blazed. "Sure, why don't I tell all of you Owen's personal thoughts. While I'm at it, how about I share with the five of you each of your dreams and the dirty little secrets behind them."

They all shuffled in their picinc bench, their lunches suddenly gained their interest.

"That's what I thought." She looked up and saw Owen head towards the table. _Oh no, why now! I can't leave without an excuse, and he's looking right at me so I can't just disappear._

"Hey Ophelia," Owen greeted, "long time no see. I kind of missed you."

_Did I hurt his feelings._

"Yeah, well I've been kind of...um...busy, with...uh.. stuff."

Owen looked perplexed, "Stuff, huh, what kind of stuff have you been doing lately?"

_Make something up, for the first time in your life just make something up!_

"I, uh..."

"FENTON!"

An irate Coach Baxter walked in dragging in little Cujo by the nape of his neck. Cujo had what remained of a football in his teeth.

_Not exactly the escape route I was hoping for, but I__'ll take it.  
_

"Explain to me why I found your dog demolishing my field and destroying my football equipment?"

Ophelia shrugged.

"Cujo likes footballs, what can I say."

"Well you can think of what to say while you repair my field, starting now."

_Salvation!_

"Yes-I mean, aw, no fair!"

"Just be lucky I'm letting you stay on the track team. Now send you're dog home and meet me in what remains of my field."

He dropped the dog and walked off. Cujo immediately hopped onto Ophelia's lap and dropped the football. Owen glared at Baxter's direction.

"I don't get why Baxter has it out for you. He punishes you more than anyone else."

Ophelia shrugged.

"In his defense, I'm not exactly a star pupil am I? I better go, no need to get him more upset with me."

"Maybe I can help you-"

"No, no, it's okay. I can handle it on my own, I don't want you to waste your afternoon for me."

"I wouldn't be wasting it if I would with you...You know, since you're one of my closest friends."

"Yes, I know" _unfortunately, _"but seriously, I'm okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ophelia tried not to see the flicker of disappointment in Owen, though it was hard not to.

"Alright then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Cool, bye."

She scurried off with ghost dog in tow. When she was out of sight of her friends, she put Cujo down and scratched his little ears.

"Good boy, Cujo, that was a nice save. Though next time, how about you do something that doesn't result in me doing manual labor."

Cujo yapped and assaulted her in wet doggy kisses. Ophelia giggled in the sweet display of affection.

"I love you too, Cujo. Now go home before you get me into more trouble."

With another yap and a kiss, Cujo vanished into the air. Ophelia expected to see him hogging up the pillows in her room.

* * *

Despite having to reconstruct an entire athletic field, Ophelia was the first one home that evening. It was a good thing too, since it was her night to cook dinner. Her parents were on their way home from work and would arrive in no more than half an hour, she could see how far away they were. Some of the food was cooling while some was still simmering in the pots and pans. She started setting the table, she decided to use her mother's favorite china set with a black and purple color scheme. The Fentons weren't expecting any guests this evening, but Ophelia set a fourth plate at the table anyway. She was finished cooking the last dish when her ghost sense went off. She smirked while trying to repress her giddiness.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, she didn't turn around. She already knew she wouldn't see anyone behind her. An apple floated from the fruit bowl and a bite was taken out without any sight of teeth. Ophelia ran over and hugged the air.

"Big sister! I missed you!"

A moan was heard before Dani appeared. She wore jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt that were in need of a good wash. Her black hair pulled back in a messy ponytail with only one of her blue eyes visible. Because she is a clone, she ages even slower than normal. Instead of looking like she was in her mid-twenties (as she was technically twenty-four years old) she looked barely eighteen.

"No fun, I can never surprise you."

"Maybe because you forget to mask your ghost half so I can't sense you come in."

Dani face palmed herself.

"Tch, now you tell me."

"Anything for my big sister." she giggled. "So, what brings you to Amity?"

"You know, this and that."

"It's been a year already?"

"Yup."

After Phantom Planet, people started to become aware of a pre-adolescent girl with ghost powers and started to become uneasy. She managed to bluff her way around the country for a while until the Guys in White caught up with her. By that time, Danny and Sam were twenty one and already married. They cleared her out by adopting her as their own kid. The only issue was that she had to stay with them at least one month a year until she was legally an adult (which, because of her physiology, was bumped up to twenty four). This is her last year that she must abide by these rules.

"What am I going to do without seeing you every year?" Ophelia said, bummed.

"What you do on the other eleven months." Dani replied, "And I won't be gone for good, I'll still come to see you for birthdays, Thanksgiving and Chri-"

Ophelia's eyes flashed a violent and blinding green. Her hands, balled tightly and painfully into fists, were charged and glowing with ecto-energy.

"Don't you _dare_ mention that word in this house!"

Dani held up her hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, sorry. I forgot about the day that shall not be named. Would December 25th be a better name."

Ophelia released the tension in her hands as the glowing dimmed with her eyes.

"That's what we call it."

She sat down at the kitchen counter and stared at her hands, ashamed to have such a reflex directed at her own sister. Dani sat next to her and tried to steer clear of the worst subject in the Fenton family history.

"Anyway, I've been applying to a few colleges too. Just waiting for the results."

"We've seen that, we put all you acceptance letters in your room."

"How many are acceptance?"

"All of them."

Dani blinked in surprise.

"Wow, I knew that Fenton was a powerful name. But I didn't know it was that powerful."

"It also helped that you got a near perfect score on you SATs and the ACTs and you had aunt Jazz write one of your letters of recommendation. Congratulations, by the way. I'm glad you finally decided to settle down."

Dani grabbed the back of her head and looked at the floor, just as her adopted father and genetic donor does when he's bashful.

"Yeah well, I've seen what I wanted to see. Done what I've wanted to do and everything. Now I want to be a little stable."

"So, what are you planning to major in."

"Astrophysics, I still want to work in the space program."

"Well, if you want to apply to NASA you have Dad's letter of recommendation."

Dani smiled at this and took another bite of her apple.

"Oh my gosh, this is so good."

"I know, right. We have a tree out back, it was dead when we got here. Nothing's better than fresh apples."

"You fixed the tree?"

"Yep."

"Hm, and no ectoplasmic after taste? You're getting to be better than Danny. Maybe even me. You might be the most powerful being alive by the time you become an adult."

Ophelia's expression darkened.

"Yeah, I've heard that before. Do you want to help me with dinner?"

"Sure."

Dinner was ready by the time Sam came home. Dani and Sam greeted each other with hugs and screeching (lots and lots of screeching). These were the very few occasions that Ophelia sees the two act girly, she drank in the strange ritual. Ophelia interrupted when she sensed her dad down the street.

"Quick, Dani, turn invisible. This will be hysterical."

Dani followed her lead and disappeared. Danny walked in through the front door.

"Honey, I'm home. Man, that sounds weird."

"Dad, dad, thanks goodness your here. I think there's someone in the house."

"What! An intruder, where!"

He transformed into Danny Phantom, hands charged and ready to fight.

"I don't know honey." Sam added, "I think it's a ghost, but Ophelia can't sense it."

"Well, I can. Get behind me, I don't want you to get hur-"

"BOO!" Dani appeared right in his face.

Danny jumped back and screamed, nearly knocking himself to the ground. The three women burst out laughing and high-fived each other.

"You should have seen the look on your face." Dani said between laughs.

"Ha ha, very funny. Glad to see you home, Dani."

"Glad to be home, cuz."

"Danny," Sam interjected, "this is Dani's last year. After this month, she isn't legally bound to stay with us anymore."

Danny frowned for a split second before masking it with a smile.

"Yeah, I know. Why don't we make the best of it. You know Dani, the offer is still on the table. It has always been even before all this."

Dani finished the last bite of her apple. She tossed the core into the air and blasted it dead center with an ecto-ray shot from her pistol-shaped hand.

"You know my answer, my mind hasn't changed since last year. Look, how about we do what we usually do: have dinner, I tell you my stories, and the two of us go on night patrol with Valarie for old times sake."

With a reluctant smile, Danny agreed. Dinner was served.

* * *

Ophelia dressed in her sister's hand me downs, so today she dressed like a tomboy. She wore a black concert tee cut down to a tank top, the bands autographs still on it. the faded jeans were a little big on her, as she was rather slim, so she held them up with a studded belt with half the studs fallen off. The doc martins were worn worn to comfort, Dani's fingerless gloves had the same wear as the boots, but with scorch marks at the palms. Ophelia liked wearing her sisters clothes, the told her stories of Dani's travels that she may have omitted for reasons unknown. When she was little, Ophelia thought that kids complained about their hand me downs because they didn't want to know what their big siblings did. After a few awkward conversations with a handful of kids, her theory was easily disproved.

She decided to blade to school today, despite the fact that she saw Em leave half an hour ago. She tip-toed by Dani's room, she sensed that she was still asleep. The shadows of her dreams were flickering in her mental peripheral vision, but she respectfully restrained herself from seeing their actual shape. She grabbed a shiny red apple from the bowl in the kitchen, bade her parents good morning, and headed off to school.

When she arrived, her friends met her at the spoke.

"I saw your dad last night on patrol. Who was that girl with him?"

"That's my sister, Dani." Ophelia answered.

"You don't have a sister," Em said, "You told me you're an only child."

"Biologically, I am. She's my adopted sister. My parents adopted her before I was born."

"But she looked just like your dad. It was like they were twins or something."

"They are 'something', Dani is my father's clone."

All their attention was immediately pulled towards her.

"Since when did Danny have a clone?" Asked Mick.

"Since he was fourteen and she was biologically twelve."

"Well then, 'how' is a better question." Owen asked.

She could tell that he really wanted to know. Whether is was because he was truly interested in her sister or because he wanted to know more about her she wasn't sure. She fought the urge to turn invisible as she recited the story she wounded up telling every year.

"A long time ago, there was a crazed up fruitloop who wanted to turn my dad into his surrogate son. When he refused about a hundred times, the Fruitloop decided to make his own son...out of my dad's DNA. In the process, he made a lot of 'mistakes'. Clones that were too unstable to withstand a solid form nor the free will to. When they used too much of their borrowed powers, they would dissolve into ectoplasm. One of those 'mistakes' was a twelve-year-old girl he named Danielle Fenton, or Phantom when was in ghost form. She called herself Dani, 'with an "i"'.

"He watched as all the others dissolve without regret, without grief, without a single care. He found a way to stabilize his clones, but he would need my dad and his mid-morph DNA to do so. He sent a few of the clones to retrieve him, knowing that they he would either destroy them in combat or by having them use up all their energy. He manipulated Dani, the only one of his clones to have humanity and free will, into thinking that he cared for her like a father. He even had the nerve to call her 'daughter' even though he cared for her no more than the clones that he had made and melted before her. He used her to abduct my dad and take a sample of his mid-morph DNA. He planned on making a new clone, letting Dani melt away and have my dad killed soon after.

"My dad, however, was able to talk to Dani. He helped her realize that her 'father' saw her as nothing more as a tool, a failed experiment, 'a mess that he's not gonna clean up'. She then decided to help my dad by freeing him. Incidentally, they ended up destroying the clone while it was being formed. The Fruitloop was in a murderous rage, and neither my dad nor Dani were in a condition to fight him (my dad was weakened from using his ghostly wail to destroy the laboratory this all had happened in, and Dani never got the DNA that stabilized her, if she tried to fight back she would have died). If it weren't for my mother and my god father's last minute intervention, they would have died. Dani disappeared, flew off to the world to live her own life.

"She still travels, I only see her a handful of times a year."

"What about her instability?" asked Darcy, deeply entranced by the story. "She wasn't stabilized, wouldn't she have melted a long time ago?"

Ophelia snapped her head up as if she came out of her own trance.

"Oh, right, that. I almost forgot that part of the story, thanks.

"A good amount of time had passed after that incident. My dad, became stronger and gained more power. The Fruitloop gained his own form of power. He rigged the elections and became mayor of Amity Park. During all this time, Dani had become weaker and weaker. She could barely walk, let alone fly. She conserved as much energy as she could to return to Amity Park for help from my dad. The Fruitloop learned of her arrival before him. He planned on melting her down and studying the remains to see how she managed to outlive all the other clones. He convinced my godmother, who back then hated ghosts with every fiber of her being, that Dani was an evil ghost out to get him. With that and a generous sum, he had her retrieve Dani for his heinous plan. My dad found Dani, and with the help of Valarie (who by this point knew that she was no more than an innocent little girl) he managed to rescue Dani. He used my grandparents technology to stabilize her. She was more free than ever to do what she wanted, and ever since she has taken advantage of that fact."

Her friends looked at her in bewilderment of her story.

Em broke the silence.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Phé, but you have the craziest family in history."

Ophelia shrugged her shoulders.

"What can I say, I wouldn't trade them for the world. Not even if you threw in the Ghost Zone."

"How long is Dani staying for?" Em asked.

"This in her last month. She was legally bound to stay with us at least one month per year until she was counted as an adult. She will be next year. I want to get as much time with her as I can before the month is over. I hope it will excuse my possible absences for the month."

"Do what you want, Phé." Abi replied. "I have an older brother who has a family and a barely get to see him either. We wouldn't mind seeing her either, would we?"

"Sounds like the only chance we can." Mick agreed.

The bell announced they had only minutes before their class scattered to their classes. One of the ghosts in the hallways waved to Ophelia, she gave them the peace sign as she walked on.

* * *

At lunch, Dani dropped by.

"Hey Dani, came for the cafeteria food?"

"No thanks, I have your dad's memories of the taste in my head. Blech! Do you want to go out to eat?"

"Um, Dani, freshmen don't go off campus for lunch."

"Who said you were leaving campus, duplicate yourself and leave the double here. No one would know."

"I don't know Dani, last time I did that to get out of school they made me sign the Contract."

"You'll be fine. I'll take the fall if anything happens. I know this place by the park that makes the best ice cream."

Ophelia replied by looking around and duplicated herself when the coast was clear.

"We have fifty minutes."

They turned invisible and walked off campus as the duplicate went to the cafeteria to meet up with her friends. The girls were unaware that they were being followed.

* * *

"- So then I looked him straight in the eye and said 'now you only have two options, you could leave right now and don't come back or your could feel the fury of my ghost ray.' and he flew away."

Even thought Dani told the same story over and over, at least they all sounded like the same story told over and over, she always seemed to hold Ophelia's attention. She was listening intently as she ate her strawberry sundae.

"How about you," Dani continued, "do you have any stories to tell?"

Ophelia thought about it and shrugged.

"There was a bounty on my head for a while. I got the guy to call off the hit. Made new friends on the first day when they were spying on us. Made another friend when I went to a magic show..."

"You hate magic shows."

"I was dragged by one of my friends. As you saw last night, Cujo found his way here, turned Technus into a chew toy. And Vlad tried to lobotomize me while having Nocturne torment me with endless nightmares."

"WHAT! When did that happen?"

"A week ago, but Dad saved me as you can see. All in all, a typical year in the Fenton household."

"Why is Vlad so hung up on turning you into him?"

"Why does Vlad want to turn me into his surrogate, why does Vlad want to destroy Dad, why did Vlad want to turn Dad into his surrogate son, why did Vlad try to destroy our grandfather years ago and then try to marry our grand mother, and why did Vlad create you and try to destroy you? To me, the answers to all of them are that he's a sadistic psychopathic fruitloop who uses his bitter loneliness as an excuse to make other people suffer. But that's my opinion."

"No, it's definitely not _just _your opinion. I think it's safe to say that everyone who's met him thinks he's a fruitloop. I remember the first year of my life the moment that I realized he didn't care about me. Everything seemed to click into place upon that epiphany, I was surprised to find out all the things I chose to ignore. If I had actually paid attention, it would have seen him for the evil fruitloop he truly was."

"Amazing the things you learn in hindsight." Ophelia was hugging her knees and looked at the floor. Dani had a feeling they weren't thinking of the same thing.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know when something bad happens how when looking back, you see how it could have been prevent. All the accidents we make because we didn't stop and analyze the situation. And because of that, people get hurt. The people you care about the most, the ones you try to protect, they always seem to suffer the most."

Dani dug into her pocket and pulled out a shiny new penny. She handed it to Ophelia.

"What's on your mind?"

Ophelia looked at the coin.

"I thought they stopped making these before I was born."

"You'd be surprised by the things one finds on the road, with or without ghost powers or inter-dimensional transportation. So, as the old phrase goes, penny for your thoughts?"

Ophelia rested her head on her knees and looked forward. She didn't want to say what she was thinking about at the moment, so she thought of the next best thing.

"Owen, my friend and neighbor, I found out he likes me. He's had a crush on me since day one and I was too blind to see it."

"Did he tell you?"

"No, well not really. I snuck into a dream of his, that's how I know. I spent most of the week avoiding him, hoping he won't finally spill his guts out and I would end up breaking his heart. Though it looks like he's not aware of his own feelings, but it's a risk I'm not willing to take."

"How did you figure that out?"

Ophelia pointed to her eyes as they flashed like an emerald police siren. She told Dani a while back about her "intuition", it was Dani who had told her that that it wasn't what people referred to. She let little Phé know first hand that it was a unique power to ghosts and humans alike, from then on "intuition" turned into "insight" and she kept her power to herself.

"Oh"

"His feelings were swirled in a grey cloud of confusion and denial. Frankly, I'm glad for that. It gives me more time to figure this whole thing out myself."

"Why, do you like him?"

"That's the problem: I don't know. I see him as friend, best friends even. He's the kind of person I could trust with anything, I might even trust to know about... December 25th."

A twinge of pain went across Dani's face when she understood what she meant.

"I can't see myself with him in anything serious. But I also know he's a sweet guy, he doesn't just see me as like everyone else does. He would make great boyfriend material. He would be probably the best boyfriend I could ever get here, or anywhere for that matter. But I don't really think I like him like that, and I don't want to ruin our friendship by seeing whether I'm right or not. Oh, why can't I just skip this sappy teenager crud?"

Dani patted Ophelia on the knew it was a precursor to the big sister lectures that she does so well.

"I know exactly how you feel. I've been through the whole dating thing before. Twice if you count Danny's memories embedded into my consciousness. Trust me, I have broken hearts just as many times as my heart has been. It doesn't really get any better. You'll sort yourself out, the best thing to do is usually to think before you do anything. You shouldn't worry too much about it."

At that moment, both Dani's and Ophelia's ghost sense went off. Ophelia sensed that they weren't friendly passers by.

"Should I worry about that?"

She pointed to the crew of ghostly police officers, headed by a ghost with a cape and eye-patch.

"Danielle Fenton, a.k.a. Dani Phantom, you are under arrest for numerous breaches of Ghost Zone law."

"Dani," Ophelia said to her sister, in a rather childish manner, "what did you do?"

"Those are Walkers pitiful rules, they have no real value in the Ghost Zone let alone on earth."

Dani said this as she transformed into her ghostly alter ego, ready to fend off the hoards.

"Regardless, rules are rules. I do believe that breaking a criminal out of prison is a felony in both dimensions."

"You WHAT!" Ophelia screamed in shock.

"I'll explain later."

"Then I'll help you later." Ophelia crossed her arms and stayed on the bench.

"Fine, be that way. You get to watch me kick intangible butt."

One of the guards already pounced at Dani but she managed to dodge out of the way. She fired an ecto-blast that knocked the guy out. More came after her and she was able to beat all of them in a large blur of punches, kicks, and ecto-energy. When she was the only one standing, the lead ghost with the eye patch sucker-punched her and knocked her down. When she tried to get up he fired one of his weapons at her hands. the blast formed a pair of handcuffs wrapped around her wrists. The force from the blast knocked her down again. He took this opportunity to shoot her at the ankles too, making her unable to get up.

"Ophelia!" she screamed to the immovable girl on the bench.

"Explain the story and then I'll help you." She said indifferently.

Dani groaned.

"Fine. Walker arrested Wulf for 'unauthorized transportation between dimensions' and put him in jail. He helped me on the road so I felt that I owed him. I tried to bail him out, I tried to get him legal representation, I tried all the normal, legal stuff and Walker just ignored me. I even got a pardon from the Observants and he torn it up in my face. Having nothing left to do, I busted the poor guy out. I've been on the run even since."

Ophelia's eyes flashed like a ball of pure green fire.

"Typical Walker, he makes up so many useless little rules to get people into his jail cells and doesn't bother to even follow the rules already established. Okay, I'll help you out." She turned to the bounty hunter. "Excuse me sir, but you are outside of your jurisdiction, and I do not believe you have a warrant for her arrest in this plane. That is a violation of her rights according to the Wraith's Act. Until you gather a warrant signed by a judge or magistrate of both universes, than I have to demand her release as you have no right to arrest her."

"And what if I don't care for your laws?" he smirked.

Ophelia's eyes blazed.

"Then, as an enforcer of the law. I must take you in. You have a choice to come in willingly or with force."

He chose force.

As he aimed his weapon to restrain her, she moved aside and blasted the weapon out of his hand. She materialized a rope of her own to tie him with. She lassoed him and he fell to the ground with a single tug. She hogtied him and headed over to Dani when she was sure that he wasn't getting out. She dematerialized the cuffs on Dani's hands and feet.

"That was too easy." Ophelia said with suspicion.

Dani walked around to check on all the ghostly officers.

"Yeah, I know they aren't the hardest to beat, but still..."

At that moment, one of the officers grabbed Dani's wrist and a shock went through her system. The voltage made her transform to Fenton and she lost Ophelia was going to go over to help her, eye-patch grabbed her and the shock went through her system. She hit the ground hard, her scars crawled all over her skin. Something about her appearance was strange, the faint glow she seemed to always have. Before she shut her eyes, they seemed to flash from emerald green to amethyst purple.

* * *

By the end of lunch, Owen followed Ophelia to her next class.

"Hey Phé, got a minute?"

She turned and smile, her eyes were sparkling like jewels.

"Sure Owen, what do you want to talk about?"

He was shuffling he feet, which suddenly gained his attention.

"I just noticed that we've haven't been hanging out much. Whenever I went over to your house your mom would tell me that you're off with Em, or Darcy or off to the Ghost Zone with Trix or people I haven't met. And with that psychotic episode with Price, I thought we should hang out more. How about we go out somewhere? I know this really awesome place downtown. No crazies, but I see ghosts hang out there from time to time. What do you say?"

Ophelia smiled.

"Sure, I can check if Abi or Darcy or Em would want to go."

Owen looked disappointed. He stared at the floor.

"I meant to two of us, together. I guess you can count it as a-"

At that moment Ophelia disappeared in a wisp of mist. Owen was now talking to the air.

"date?"

He looked around and waved his hand around the spot where she stood in case she just turned invisible. He was patting the air.

"Phé? Are you messing with me?"

No one responded.

"Okay, this cannot be good."

* * *

Ophelia woke up in a prison cell. Dani was there at her side, she was wearing a striped jumpsuit.

"Thank goodness you're okay." Dani said.

Ophelia sat up and brushed the black hair from her eyes.

"What happened?"

"Walker's goons shocked us with a Maximus."

"A what?"

"A Plasmius Maximus, it's a device that shorts out the ghost powers in halfas_. _I don't know how it affects someone with your genetic structure. I was worried that you weren't going to wake up again. Your scars are showing so I thought the worst."

With wide eyes, Ophelia looked at her arms. Lo and behold, underneath the striped sleeves were the horribly beautiful floral pattern carved into her skin. Her ghostly immune system must me fighting against the affects of the device and thus weakened her severely.

"How long does this last for?"

"The original Plasmius Maximus lasted for only three hours, but I don't know how long these new versions are nor do I know whether or not the effect take longer to wear off on you."

"We're in the Ghost Zone, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Can't we just walk through the walls? We are human after all."

"Tried it, they did something to the walls. It must be the reverse version of a ghost shield."

Ophelia tried to get up from her bed in the cell, but she was too weak to stand and had to sit back sat right beside her and held upright.

"Easy there, Phé." Dani said to her weakened little sister.

"How are you doing so well?" Ophelia said, breathing heavily.

"I'm your dad's clone, I have a hundred-hundred genetic structure. If my ghost half is shorted out, then I have my human half to fall back on without any harm. My guess is that since you have a fifty-fifty genetic structure; half of you has been shorted out, and the other half, your human half, is trying to support you as a whole."

"Why am I not in the infirmary, then? I can't even stand up." she needed to lie down again.

Just then, the door opened and Walker came in with Eye-Patch. He smiled at the frail figure on the bed.

"Ah, that's what I want to see." He said "All the rule breakers put in their rightful places.

"You're one to talk!" Ophelia managed to scream at him, "This is wrongful imprisonment. You have no right to arrest Dani or even me for the crimes that we have supposedly done. Do you think this will stand well with the Observants?"

"Who says the Observants will hear any of this? You and your family have been promoting anarchy in my world for years now. You're very existence is both within and without my juris diction. You halfas believe you are entitled to break evey rule in my book. The Observants love you and humanity so much that they ignore your criminal record. Not anymore! As judge, executioner, jury, executioner, and appointed executioner, I find you guilty of all charges pressed on you by the Ghost Zone Police Department. I sentence you to the death penalty, decided by me. I'll make sure it is as slow and painful as you deserve."

"This isn't right, Walker." Dani shouted to the white clad warden. "We've both done your job in the Human Plane and the Ghost Zone. We have enforced and protected the law and sent enough criminals to make up for Danny's prison riot tenfold as well as make up for any infraction we may or may not have committed. Why would you want to kill us?"

"You're halfas, as long as you're alive you break a rule in my book. A human enforcing the law for the Ghost Zone, that's against the rules. Humans acquiring residence in the Ghost Zone, that's against the rules. Being a human-ghost hybrid that allows you to be immune to the laws of both dimensions, that's against the rules."

"Is the ink still wet from when you wrote it down in your silly old book?" Ophelia mumbled from her bed.

Instead of getting angry, he just smiled.

"Enjoy your stay in my prison, ladies. I try to make my convicts as comfortable as possible, when they are on death row."

He laughed as he left the prison cell.

"You know," Dani said thick with annoyance, "sometimes that guy is more bipolar than the Lunch Lady."

"I'll say."

"What should we do now?"

"Pray long and hard for a deus ex machina. I'm too weak to move and I don't think we can get out even if you got your powers back. I'm hoping me disappearing right in front of Owen drew his suspicions."

"Your copy was talking to him when your powers shorted out?"

"As far as I remember from it, he was asking me out on a date."

"Dodged a bullet then, I guess."

"I tried to imply it was a bad idea by throwing our friends in but I don't think he got the picture. Why are boys so clueless?"

"Let's have this discussion when we're not in stripes, okay?"

* * *

Owen raced to the Fentons after school. He thought that at least if she hadn't ditched school or gotten sent home sick, it was something dangerous and she would need her parents to go save her. He rang the doorbell furiously until Sam answered the door.

"Oh, hi Owen." She answered in her normal gothic cheer. "Sorry, but Ophelia isn't home yet."

"That's what I wanted to tell you. I was talking to her at school today and she just disappeared right in front of me."

"Hate to break it to you Owen but she's half ghost. She can disappear and reappear whenever she wants to."

"Right in the middle of a conversation?"

"That depends, were you asking her out." Owen laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Sam continued. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Dani since this morning either. You may have just been talking to Ophelia's duplicate which dissolved when she and Dani jumped into the Ghost Zone. She hasn't really perfected her duplications yet, she still needs to stay in the same dimension of they just dissolve."

"Could you at least check? Something's wrong, I can feel it."

Sam rolled her eyes jovially.

"Alright, I'll call up Detective Grey. If Ophelia was in any trouble, she'd be the first to hear about it."

Sam walked into the house and Owen followed her, assuming he was invited to come in. Sam reached to the phone and called Valarie.

"Hey Val, Ophelia and Dani haven't been home yet. Have you heard anything about them?

...

"What did you want to talk to me about them?

...

"What were they doing?

...

"That must have been a Plasmius Maximus. Did you hear anything from Walker about this?

...

"Then he's up to something. We have to go find them, Ophelia's never been shocked by a Maximus before. We don't know how she'll be affected knowing her genetic structure."

...

"You do that, I'll go get Danny."

She hung up and finally took notice of the very worried Owen in her living room.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"The GZPD attacked Dani and Ophelia and took them away. Walker must be behind it on one of his vigilante tirades. I need to go get my husband so we can go get her."

"Let me help, she's my...friend after all." He still didn't understand why it was so hard to call her a friend, as if it wasn't the right title.

"Owen, that's sweet but I think we've got it covered. Besides, you've never fought ghosts before, how would know what to do?"

"If my history is correct, you weren't well experienced when you started out. You just acted on a whim with your clueless best friend and boyfriend/husband to be."

"Touché, you still can't go. When I acted on emotions it nearly killed people, mainly me. And I don't think that Ophelia will let it go if you blow yourself to bits with the Fenton Blaster."

Owen expression faltered when hearing that.

"She would?"

Sam smiled.

"Yeah, I think just about anyone would be upset if their parents let their friends kill themselves."

Owen looked disappointed, too disappointed to notice Sam rolling her eyes and giggling.

"Okay, you can come. But if I say dodge then dodge."

"But my last name is Dodgson. Wouldn't that be confusing?"

"Do you want to come or not?"

"I'll figure it out." Owen ran after Sam who was calling up Danny on her cell on her way to the weapon stocked garage.

* * *

Ophelia woke up four hours later. Her hair was snow white and her skin was glowing and scar-free. She can tell by the glow reflecting off her pillow that her eyes were glowing purple as well. The effects of the Plasmius Maximus had worn off.

"Dani?" she called.

"Yeah?" replied her sister from the top bunk.

"I think the Maximus has worn off on me. How about you?"

Dani jumped down. She still had on the prison uniform on but the polarization of hair and eye color was good enough.

"Does this answer your question?"

"Good enough."

Ophelia turned over and stared at the wall. A thought just came to her head.

"Dani?"

"Yes?"

"If a person was going to make a barricade for ghosts and humans, and have no source genetic material of their target prisoner, they would use EGM and DNA from separate sources to make said barrier. Am I right?"

"Right."

"And because of this, said barrier can block only humans and ghosts?"

"That's the plan."

"So in theory, if a prisoner had both EGM and DNA active at the same time, it would confuse the barrier and would make it either let the person pass through harmlessly or explode like anti-matter coming into contact with matter. Either way, it wouldn't work and the prisoners would escape, as long as the explosion isn't intense enough to kill them or whatever happens to ghost past their existence."

Dani looked at her little sister with bright eyes and a deviant smile.

"Sister, you are one evil genius."

"It's genius if it works, its stupid and suicidal it it fails miserably."

Ophelia touched the wall and focused on becoming intangible. Being half ghost and half human, she could pass through the walls on either plane without any thought. Now that both have to come into focus, it would be like trying to tune in to twenty sounds at once. The wall started to quiver against her hand like water. Sparks danced off the wall, spreading around the room as the wall rippled. Ophelia's hand finally slipped through the wall. She had just defied the laws of physics in both dimensions. Ophelia smiled.

Ophelia got up from her bed and walked up to the door. With a little less force, she slipped her whole body right through the door. Within minutes, the door opened with Ophelia twirling the key by the ring around her finger.

"Being a unique species rocks!" Ophelia said.

"You got that right," Dani said while running out the door, "now let's get out of here before anyone notices."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

The two girls were almost out the door when Ophelia sensed a familiar presence. She stopped mid-sprint in front of a cell.

"What's wrong Phé?" Dani said when she noticed that she was the only one running.

"Wulf."

She came up to the door and a grey snout poked between the bars.

_"Ophelia? Danielle?" _said Wulf_ "What brings you here?"_

_"Dani's here because she helped you." _Ophelia replied_ "I'm here because I helped her. You're here because... I actually don't know why Walker throws you in here all the time."_

_"It's a long story."_

_"Need a hand getting out of here?"_

_"Will it get you in more trouble?"_

_"Walker put us under the death penalty, I think 'more trouble' is possible. Grab a hold of my hand."_

She stuck her arm through the door and she pulled the lycanthrope through the wall. He licked her gratefully.

_"Don't thank me yet, we have to get that collar off you."_

Her hands glowed purple and she grabbed the collar around Wulf's neck. With great force, she snapped the collar off of him. It shattered to pieces on the floor. He gave Ophelia a bear hug and lifted her off the ground.

"Yeah, yeah," Dani intervened, "the ghost werewolf love fest is nice and all but we're still in about we get out of prison and then we hug."

Dani then got blasted square in the chest, followed by Ophelia and Wulf in the back.

"Attempting to break out of prison, that's against the rules."

Walker was flanked by twenty guards on each side. He was holding a smoking ecto-blaster walked over to Ophelia. He kicked her over and put his foot on her abdomen, pinning her to the ground.

"A genetic hybrid of ghost and human, that's against the rules too. Face it s, the whole lot of you belonged in this prison from the day ya'll were born."

Dani knocked Walker off to the ground. When he got up, he was face to face with her.

"According to what, your silly old book of rules you add in every five minutes? What right do you have to enforce them, anyway? You're only power is within these walls, that's why you make these rules and send out your little drones to fill your cells. Even then, you try to pick on the weaker ones and beat down the big guys before they figure out that they could beat you down. Danny was right about you, you are a coward. I actually feel sorry for the criminals my family have been sending your way. We thought you've changed but it's obvious we were wrong. You are nothing more than a coward and a bully."

He tried to swing a punch at her and it went right through her as if she was never there.

"Sorry dude, but as you said about us not having to follow your laws it includes the laws of physics. You are going to let us leave or I will make the whole house break the laws of physics as well. Well, excluding the east wing, that's where you guys keep the ghost we send over, right?"

Walker stared down at her for a while in pure rage. Finally, when realizing that she was serious, he stepped aside and let her walk. Ophelia and Wulf stared dumbfounded and followed. Dani stopped and turned to face Walker.

"And another thing: if you try to lay a hand on my little sister again, Ophelia and I will turn the Ghost Zone into an anarchy that you cannot possibly imagine."

She turned and walked towards the door. None of them notice when Walker aimed his blaster at Dani, nor the wining of the gun as it was charging up for a deadly shot. But they did pay attention when the gun was shot out of his hands with an ecto-ray. When they noticed this they found Danny Phantom being the shooter, with Sam, Valarie and Owen backing him up.

"Same old Walker," Danny quipped, "Always shooting at people when their back is turned."

"These three are rule breakers that need to be punished." Walker argued.

"What are their crimes, existing? They are just as guilty for their crimes as I am... On second thought, I do have a criminal record here so I may not be the best example."

"Whatever your perspective of justice is in your world, I am in charge here. If someone breaks my rules, the laws of the Ghost Zone, they are punished."

"Yeah, well about that," Valarie said while handing Walker a document, "we plead our case to the Observants and they agree with us that you have been abusing your rights as warden of the Ghost Zone Prison. You have been removed of your position as a law enforcer effective immediately."

Walker looked at the woman and the piece of paper in utter shock.

"But you _can't _do this, I have been a warden of the Ghost Zone ever since I died. I have been enforcing the law all my life and afterlife, it's my very existence. What am I suppose to do now?"

"They're going to have a hearing with you about that. They're thinking of making you go from the bottom up until they think you have cleaned up your act and can return you to your position. It's all in the warrant."

"I can't believe this. All these years of work and I'm getting probation?"

"You're lucky your not going behind these bars." Danny interjected."You have been inhumanely punishing your inmates for decades without anyone batting and eye. You once tried to put a shock collar on Sam to punish me. If you never saw this day coming than you're more narrow minded than I was generous enough to expect."

"If you follow me, Mr. Walker," Valarie continued, "We can go over to your office ad get your stuff."

As they left, no one noticed (or at least they pretended not to) that Dani and Ophelia shared a high five and stuck out their tongues at Walker's back.

* * *

"So, you're a ghost hunter now?"

Ophelia was on her roof staring at as much of the city her house could give her. She petted Cujo, who sat placidly on her lap. Owen had just came and sat right next to her.

"Not really, I just heard you were in trouble and thought I should help out."

"How chivalrous of you." Even though she was lost in the lights of the city and the colorful embers of the sleeping people, the sarcasm was laid on honey thick.

"You're not happy that I tried to help you?"

Her eyes flashed a violent green.

"No, I am not happy about it. I'm not happy about it for so many reasons. You could have gotten yourself killed, Owen, and not everyone become ghosts. I learned that one the hard way."

"Nothing happened, there was barely a fight. It was like those lame vampire novels my mom read when she was a teenager."

"You thought there was, and you would have mindlessly gotten yourself right into the line of fire if there was one."

"You're not seriously going to be mad at me for something that didn't happen-"

"_Yet, _it didn't happen yet. I'm talking sense into you before you do something really stupid. Whenever people try to help me, they get hurt. When I try to help them, they still get hurt. Whatever happens, you will die and it will be my fault for not scaring you away."

"So what, I'm suppose to let you get taken away by people you're too afraid to tell me about and have some ghost tell me that your body was found in the bottom of a ditch somewhere? You're my.. friend, I care about you lot. You may not be aware of this, but there are a lot of people who care whether or not they get to see you alive ever again."

"And of all those people, I care whether or not I get to see them alive again. And because of this, I make it a life goal of mine to keep them from my family's line of work. Just as much as I make it a life goal to make sure _I _don't end up in my family's line of work. My parents respect that I don't want to save the world from ghosts, so please respect the fact that I don't want to catch you ghost hunting for me ever again."

"I just don't want you to fight alone. I want to be by your side and help you when you need it."

"Dude, I'm saying this once, don't ever make me have to say this again. I AM NOT A SUPERHERO AND YOU ARE NOT MY SIDEKICK! I am not fighting anything and I don't want people to think they need to help me. I don't want to see someone try to take you away to get to me and then waste you right in front of me knowing I can't do a thing to stop it."

Her voice was quiver, her bangs were covering her eyes so Owen couldn't see the tears in them. Cujo hoped off so she could hug her knees tightly to her chest.

"This isn't just about me, is it?" Owen asked warily.

"How very perceptive of you."

"Mind telling me what's wrong?"

She wiped he tears from her eyes with her sleeve in a way that looked like she was rubbing them instead. Cujo whimpered for his mistresses sadness, pawing at her leg as an offer to make her feel better.

"Not the first thing, I won't tell you that. I'll tell you the most recent thing, though."

"What would that be?"

"When we went to the Observants with Auntie Val and Walker, they were talking about a new warden to take his place. They decided that none of the guards or Walker's second in command were clean enough so they needed someone new. They offered the job to Dani."

"What's wrong with that, wouldn't she be a great warden?"

"No, she would be a fair and just warden, the problem was she accepted the job offer and she's moving out tomorrow."

"And you don't like the fact that you're losing your sister ahead of schedule."

Ophelia sat there quiet for a while, trying to compose herself to speak while putting together in her head the best words to use.

"She was accepted to all the colleges she and my aunt Jasmin applied her to, even the ivy leagues. She was going to study astrophysics and join the space program just like my dad. She was going to give up the whole life and have the steady and relatively normal Fenton life she never got. Now she's going to spend the rest of her life in the Ghost Zone running the prison and dealing with the felons my dad and my godmother send in every day."

"Why didn't she say 'no' then?"

"She has my dad's hero complex, she believes that she has to save everything and everyone even if it means sacrificing her own happiness to do it. she was suppose to get the life she wanted, outside of this crazy stuff."

Owen looked at her hard with the little light he got from the city and the night sky. She was holding back tears and a lot of pain, he could tell.

"There's another reason, isn't there?"

She didn't answer, she just stared straight forward.

"She was your template. You were going to follow her example when you got older to find a life that would make you happy. And to you, a happy life is one where no one depends on you to save the day or have anything to do with ghosts outside the friends you've already made in the Ghost Zone. You're not only upset for her, you're upset because you've lost hope in being anything more than the Phantom ghosthunter that everyone expects you to be."

She still didn't respond.

"You don't need to rely on your sister's life as a guideline for your own. You are Ophelia Fenton, a fourteen-year-old girl who can master a skill if someone draws it to your attention. You are a genius, a star athlete, and you are the best friend a guy could have. You can do all that without having to use your name or your ghost powers. If you can do all that, then there should be no problem with your future. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

He got up and was about to head out the door leading inside the house when he stopped himself.

"Hey Phé?"

"Yes Owen?"

"You never gave me your answer."

"Answer to what?"

"That place downtown I was talking about, would you like to go with me? It doesn't have to be a date, mind you, it could just be two friends hanging out."

Ophelia smiled nervously. She managed to keep herself visible, but she was as transparent as cellophane.

"I think I'd rather go for a quiet weekend at home for once. Sorry, we can hang out with the rest of the guys another time."

She didn't need insight to see his disappointment, it was written all over his face.

"Yeah sure, see you tomorrow."

Owen left with with Ophelia's on him. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him just yet, or how the rest of her life is going to go, or how is she going to get through the mess she's been in for more or less ten years.

Cujo pawed at her legs until she finally let him hop onto her lap. She petted his head in a meditated state.

"Nothing is ever easy, is it boy?"

Cujo only let out a little whine in response. Ophelia continued to pet him as she watched the sun set and the twilight fade.


	10. Danse Macabre

Every year around Halloween, a great amount of the Ghost Zone's population would celebrate one way or another. Most would go to the Human Plane to join in the festivities with the living. Others would celebrate in their own dimension, following the traditions of their time period. The rest would ignore it and treat the day as October 31st, not as Halloween. This year, Trix was going to the annual masquerade the ghosts would hold in the Human Plane, aptly named the Danse Macabre. The one thing she hated about being a magician's assistant for so many years was that she never got the day off the celebrate Halloween. It was a day for the dead, she was dead, it was practically a religious holiday for her. Now that she quit, she has to catch up with the Ghost Zone, including the Danse Macabre.

There was a knocking on her door, she flew over to answer it. It was Ophelia, she was wearing one her her goth outfit's with a witch's hat and holding a jack-o-lantern.

"Happy Halloween, Trix." she said as she gave her the jack-o-lantern.

"Hello Ophelia, and how are you on this wonderful holiday?"

"I love Halloween, it's the coolest days of the year. You get to dress up in costumes, adults give you candy just for knocking on their door, and you get to watch scary movies all month long without people judging you. At least that's what my mom says a lot."

"What are your plans this year?" Trix asked, placing the jack-o-lantern of a table. She snapped fer fingers and the inside glowed multiple color by a flame.

"My human friends and I are stuck with decorating this haunted house the school does every year."

"Didn't you sign up for it?"

"You, it's an 'get out of detention by doing the teacher a favor' gig."

"Detention, what did you do?"

**Earlier that day...**

"Cujo! Cujo come back here!"

The little green puppy hopped out of Ophelia's bag and started running down the hall. Ophelia was racing down the hall before trying to grab him before anything bad happened. One by one, her friends and neighbors saw her chase the dog and followed suit.

Along the halls, Coach Baxter was having students decorate the hall for Halloween, at least the athletes he had control over. As the students were painting and posting up signs for the annual haunted house, Cujo scurried his way down the halls destroying it with his puppy mischief. A can of paint fell on Coach Baxter and coated him in purple. The little dog walked up and sat in front of him, wagging his little tail and innocently panting.

"Fenton!" He shouted. She looked up at her purple Gym teacher and gulped nervously.

**Now...**

"Nothing, nothing at all." said Ophelia.

"Well, it's a shame you have to do the haunted house thing. I was going to invite you to the Danse Macabre, but since you're busy..."

"Danse Macabre? Is that a party?"

"Only the party of the year. All the ghosts return to the living world and have a costume ball in all these old abandoned places, it's just a riot."

"A riot that I cannot attend, but you have a good time though. What are you going as?"

"Traditionally, you attend in the evening attire of your lifetime, I have done enough of those. I'm thinking of going as a geisha girl."

"Planning on wearing a wig?" Ophelia said while eying Trix's fiery red bob cut.

"You know it. What are you planning on going as?"

"I'm not sure yet, Baxter might be having me be acting a part in the haunted house, so I might have a costume picked out for me."

"What were you planning to dress up as originally."

The two white rings formed around Ophelia's center and climbed up and down her body. When they disappeared, she was wearing a airy little dress with a whimsy floral pattern. She had flowers of cool colors in her hair and around her dress. A pair of purple and green butterfly wings sprouted out of her back and were fluttering behind her.

"Get it?" said Ophelia with a smile.

"Oh, that's adorable, but what am I suppose to get?"

"I'm a fairy, also known as a fae. You know, fae, Phé."

"Oh, now I get it. That's ever more adorable."

"Adorable, but not scary. They'll probably dress me up as some sort of blooding corpse and have me walk through the walls and disappear at the second glance. You know, the typical ghost stereotypes. This will be so painful." She collapsed onto the sofa to add dramatic affect. A flock of startled doves flew out of the couch cushions and disappeared into odd directions around the house.

"Sorry about that, kiddo. Well, if you can get out of it early, here's the invitation. It has the address for this part of the Danse."

"You don't have it in one place?"

"Ophelia, it's nearly every ghost in existence. That's just about a third of every human who every walked the Earth. We can barely keep it in the same planet let alone the same place."

"True. I'll see what I can do, I might get out on good behavior. Or I can tell my dad and sneak out during his hissy fit with out least favorite teacher, but that might cause more trouble for me than I'm trying to avoid."

* * *

In the very depths of the Ghost Zone, where all was left alone and forgotten, there was a creature. This creature wasn't a ghost like all the other inhabitants, nor was it human. If it was either of the two, it had forgotten quite a long time ago. It emerged from the depths in the guise of a wolf, leaping at incredible lengths from rock to rock. It reached the part of the Ghost Zone in sync with Amity Park and stopped. It smelled something in the air, something strange, something new, something irresistible. It followed the scent until it reached a door. It saw a girl come out of the door, she had snow white hair and eyes of sparkling amethyst. Her skin was slightly tanned with bright pink cheeks, her whole body was a ghostly glow. It wondered how a ghost would have blood in her cheeks, or how it would smell like blood and ectoplasm at the same time.

Another girl came out, this one was one hundred percent ghost. She gave the snow haired girl a hug and a wave goodbye before closing the door. The snow haired girl opened a portal of purple energy and walked right into it, the portal disappeared as soon as she did. It looked on curiously as it took its original human (or humanoid) shape. It was dressed in Victorian fashion, indicating the last time it was on Earth. He too had pale skin, but unlike the girl he was inhumanly pale. There was no sign of blood underneath his skin, although there was something in his veins similar to blood. He approached the door the girl came out of and knocked on it. The ghost opened it, she was now dressed in a Japanese kimono gown. She looked at the creature over, he could sense her instincts warning her against him.

"Can I help you?" She said in a hasty manner.

"Yes, hello." He said in a charming tone, "I noticed that you were talking to another girl just now and I wanted to know who she is."

"Who are you?" She said defensively.

"Not important, I want to know who that girl was."

"Why?"

He smirked, nearly smiled but he knew better to show his teeth.

"I just want to get to know the girl."

"Sorry, but I'm kind of busy." She tried to close the door but he stuck his foot to jam it. He put his hand on the door and pushed it aside, the ghost was backing away.

"You'll have to make time for me, I'm afraid. I'm quite famished."

"There's a diner not too far away. I don't really have anything here to eat."

He smiled, showing his canines to be unusually sharp.

"I think it's quite interesting how ghosts would partake in human food when they have no need for it. Even in my day, you shadows would eat for the sake of familiarity. I don't really care for it, it's such a nasty habit. It leaves an unpleasant taste in the ectoplasm."

She inferred where this was going and shot him with a ghost ray. It seemed to have only temporarily blinded him, when he regained his sight she was gone.

She flew as fast as far as she could, the rooms and hallways slid and opened around her to conceal her. When she thought it was safe, she stopped and hid behind a took out the phone her friend had given her and started dialing the GZPD. When she was about to press the "call" button, he grabbed her wrist. He was smiling heinously through his sharp teeth, like a beast would do when it caught it's prey.

"Look at what that did you," he said in a patronizing tone, "now your tired and I've worked up an appetite."

She tried to turn intangible to slip her arm through, but it did no use.

"Oh, come now. Do you actually believe that I would have fed on your kind all these centuries if they were able to slip right though my fingers."

"What are you?"

"I think we both know the answer to that."

All around the halls and even through the front door, the sound a screaming was heard until it slowly died down.

* * *

They all met at the house early, earlier than Coach Baxter. Unfortunately, he had the keys to the place so they had to wait outside for him. Ophelia offered to phase them all through to get a head start, but they voted against it in fear of Baxter adding a phasing and entering charge as well as detention. The girls and Wal immediately started talking amongst themselves, the subjects switching around often. Owen was scribbling is his sketch book with Mick sitting next to him.

"What are you drawing, Owen?" he asked to break the awkward silence.

"Ophelia photographed Pariah's Keep for me last week. I'm just getting to the throne room."

"Isn't that the place where the Ghost King lives?"

"More like trapped," he gave Mick a picture of the throne room, "see that box thing? That's the sarcophagus of eternal sleep. Mr. Phantom put him in their when he was a kid. As the news reports go about the invasion that happened here, it was no small feat. It wasn't actually the first time the Ghost King was put in there, but it was still remarkable nonetheless."

"Yeah, I've heard about that. There are a lot of graphic novels based on that incident. Isn't this place closed off to the public?"

"She said she went with her dad on a routine check up to see if everything is where it's suppose to be. She may not like the super hero saving the world thing, but she does love the adventure exploring thing that runs in her family. That's one of many reasons why I love that girl."

Owen widened his eyes and analyzed what he just said.

"Love?" Mick asked surprised.

"You know, like a best friend." He said a little scatter brained, "Like the way I love you and Wal."

Mick smirked.

"I love you too man." he joked. "Maybe we should go out on a date too."

Owen blushed when he heard that.

"It wasn't a real date, we just hadn't seen each other in a while and I thought that she needed to go somewhere to unwind."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say."

"Besides, she said no." He said grumbled into his sketchbook.

Owen looked up from his work and looked over to Ophelia. Wal had just told a joke and Ophelia was laughing at it, her eyes glittering like emeralds in the sun. He didn't notice that he was staring at her until she looked over to him and waved back awkwardly. He then blushed and waved back.

"Okay kids," Baxter said when he finally met them at the gate. "You will go into pairs an work in one room each. I want the best rooms out of the eight of you, meaning I want to be absolutely horrified when I step into each one. You can only leave when I have seen the room and deem it scary. Any questions?"

Wal raised is hand.

"Yes, Mr. Ramìrez?"

"You said the eight of us were working on the house."

"Yes, and?"

"I count seven."

"Right, I'd like to introduce you to a new student to Casper High, Richard Waltz."

He motioned to a boy who apparently had stood behind him the whole time. He had strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes. He was dressed like he came out of a Dickens novel.

Ophelia covered her mouth.

"You can decide amongst yourselves who gets stuck with the new kid. I'll leave you kids to whatever you plan on doing, I'll be back in an hour. Here are the keys, don't destroy the house. Oh, and before I forget."

He pulled out and ecto-inhibitor and slapped it on Ophelia's wrist. He punched in a code and it blinked to life.

"Hey!"

"I don't want any of the other teachers calling me a cheat for recruiting the only hlaf-ghost student in school since her father. You will get your powers back once I see your room, and its horrifying."

Ophelia frowned at the cuff on her wrist.

"I just hope for your sake you take off of your mom's side."

He walked away laughing at his own joke, or at least the last comment he made that he counted as a joke. Ophelia stared on angrily, her eyes were smouldered embers due to the inhibitors.

"So," Em said to lighten the mood, "I think we should have a connected theme to all the rooms. What do you think that should be?"

"Frankenstein's Castle!" said Mick.

"Murder house massacre." said Darcy.

"Pariah's Keep." said Owen.

"How about Dracula's castle?" asked Richard.

Everyone stared at him before they started laughing at him. Richard just blinked in confusion.

"What is wrong with my idea?"

Abi appointed herself as the person to crush his dreams to explain it.

"Look, Rich, the key to a scary haunted house is of something that could actually happen. We could do Frankenstein's Castle because their have been occasions where human life was created by a mad scientist. Massacres has happened throughout history, and we all know about Pariah's keep. But seriously, vampires, there's no such thing."

"We believed the same thing about ghosts in only a few short decades ago."

"But that's because we had proof. We had science."

"You had two people whole poked a hole in the wall between the two realities."

"And ever since then, we have explored every possible outcome of any other mythological creature being real. Now we have scientific experiments and explorations to disprove the existence of vampires."

"Vampires _are_ real. They feed off the very essence of humans and ghosts alike. They are ruthless, sociopathic, sadistic, bloodthirsty creatures of nightmares. I have stories told of them passed down in my family for years."

"That's all they are, stories. If they are as bloodthirsty as you say, why haven't we seen them kill anyone yet."

"Who said they wanted you to know they've killed anyone?"

"Okay," Ophelia said, playing peacemaker, "How about this, we make the theme 'the worst nightmares in history'. That way we can have all the rooms involve some scary aspect whether they're real or not."

They all looked at each other and shrugged in agreement.

"Now that's dealt with," said Abi, "what about pairs? Who wants to be with Van Helsing." She motioned towards Richard when she said that.

All except for Ophelia touched their noses and shouted "Not it!"

"Okay, now that's that settled, I get Mick and we do Frankenstein's castle, Owen and Darcy do Pariah's Keep, and Em and Wal do the massacre room. Let's move out."

They started to file into the house, Ophelia being the last to enter. A chill rolled down her spine and turned to look out of the gate. She didn't know why, but she felt like she was being watched.

* * *

"Trix?"

Kitty was knocking on Trix's door. She and Johnny were dressed up like Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. The three of them decided to go together to the Danse Macabre. Right now, they were running extremely late.

"Trix, get your non-corporeal butt out here!"

The door flew open at the second knock, inviting them inside. Kitty walked in, Johnny following shortly after. Something was wrong, the hallways were cold and empty. The windows that would usually shine a golden light was leaking a gloomy grey.

"Kudos on decorating the rooms, Trix, it's very creepy." Johnny shouted down the hallway, there was no answer.

"Trix?"

They walked down the hallways looking for her. As they did so they started seeing green footprints on the floor. They were bigger and bigger until they were splattered puddles around a ghostly form.

"Trix!" Kitty said as she ran to the body. Trix was covered in ectoplasm, stemming from a dripping bite mark in her neck (now just a deep scar). She was healing, but very slowly.

"Johnny, call for help!"

"Who do we call, I've never seen this before."

"I don't know, the Observants? Just get help!"

He was dialing up the phone when Trix was groaning into consciousness.

"Trix! Trix, what happened to you?"

"Got, got to find Ophelia. She's in trouble."

"Ophelia's fine, what happened to you?"

"He's, he's after Ophelia. We need to warn her."

"About what, who's after her?"

"The vampire."

* * *

Ophelia was hanging up a tapestry while Richard was dressing the coffin.

"So," said Ophelia, "How old are you?"

"Fourteen, I'm in your class after all."

"No, I mean how long have you been dead?"

Richard's eyes widened.

"What gave it away?"

"My ghost sense. Don't worry, I'm sure no one else will figure it out. I'm guessing you're not a changeling."

"No, I don't like the institution. I already went through the foster home system when I was alive, why would I want to go through it again."

"I understand, we had a changeling here before. Her parents died but she was hiding from the agency so she could grow up. They found out and took her away."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, it was kind of my fault too."

"It probably wasn't, the agency are incredibly slow with these processes. They may have already known but was backlogged with other cases."

Ophelia smiled at the thought. They continued decorating the room until they were completely finished. The room looked pretty creepy. It was barely lit by artificial candle flames and a fake fire. There was a coffin dead center of the room, they had set it up so that one of the student actors Baxter would bring over would be the vampire and they would stroll around the room and startle whoever came in. Most of the room was covered in velvet and antiques.

"Ophelia."

"Yes, Richard?"

"Do you believe in vampires?"

"Being a human-ghost genetic anomaly kind of leaves you open minded. I know that there's a pretty good chance of being real, but I haven't seen any real proof."

"What do you know about them?"

"What I get from my mom's books I suppose."

"And that would be?"

"They are once human, but were turned into a vampire by drinking another vampire's blood. They drink the blood of the living, they can't use their powers in sunlight, they have no reflection, and they go to a place without and invitation."

"Pretty good knowledge, do you know how to destroy them?"

"Stake through the heart?"

"Sort of, it has to made out of certain wood. Plywood won't do anything, it has to be the good stuff. Oak, maple, chestnut, if it's worth it's weight in gold, it will kill them. Decapitation works just as well, but the head has to be nowhere near the body when disposed and you can't come in contact with the blood."

"Why's that?"

"It won't kill, nor would it turn you into a vampire, but it will make you really sick."

"That thing you said that they fed off of humans and ghosts alike, is that true?"

Richard nodded.

"Human blood is like wine to them, they like the taste of life and the feel of it fading away with every sip."

"Charming." she said, heavy on the sarcasm.

"Ectoplasm is more filling, and it replenishes itself. It also packs a charge since it's pure energy."

"So to them, we're an endless coffee bar."

Richard nodded again.

"Even more charming. Sounds like you know your stuff, how?"

"I would rather not go into that."

"Okay fine, I'll ask something else. Why don't we hear about them? We haven't heard about legit vampires since Stoker and then there was that book saga back when my parents were kids. I'd think since they're this dangerous we'd know about them just as much as ghosts."

"A while back, there were a lot. We ignored it in order to feel safe. Then it got too much and the humans took the offensive. More than eighty percent of the vampire population was wiped out, the rest went into hiding in the deepest fathoms of the Ghost Zone where things go to be forgotten. They hide there because of the easier access to a food supply, and no one would ever react if they fed."

"Looks like you got the raw end of the stick."

"You can say that, yes."

Ophelia's phone went off and she looked at it to read a text. She replied to it before putting it away.

"Who was that?" Richard asked.

"Trix, one of my ghost friends. She wanted to know when I was coming to the Danse Macabre."

"You're going?"

"This would be my first one, nobody ever told me of it before."

"You will enjoy it, it is what we ghosts look forward to next to Christ-"

Ophelia blasted a hole in the wall next to Richard. He jumped back in surprise.

"What the Devil was that!"

Ophelia looked at her glowing hand and quickly tucked it behind her hand. She faded in embarrassment.

"Sorry, its a reflex of mine. Just please, don't mention that word to me."

"What, Christmas? What's wrong with Christmas?"

Ophelia's body flickered a glowing green, like she was flinching at the mention of the very word.

"My dad and I are not big fans of the holiday. We don't necessarily have the best memories associated with the day. We were more than happy to get on board with the Hanuka thing with my mom just to avoid the 25th."

"Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope Coach Baxter let's us go. I want to get over there too, I never missed one in my afterlife."

* * *

He was able to pick up her scent pretty easily. He tracked her down to a house under the address of 917 Maple Street. She was with six other teens (six human, one ghost) and a human adult. It took him a while to figure which one was her as she changed her appearance, her snow white hair was black as ink, her amethyst eyes were sparkling emeralds in the sun, and the olive tone in her skin was gone giving her the appearance of a porcelain doll. The adult left while the teens were organizing themselves about decorating the house. He was about to tune it out until he heard the ghost and one of the human girls argue about vampires.

"Now we have scientific experiments and explorations to disprove the existence of vampires." he heard the human girl say.

"Vampires are real." said the ghost "They feed off the very essence of humans and ghosts alike. They are ruthless, sociopathic, sadistic, bloodthirsty creatures of nightmares. I have stories told of them passed down in my family for years."

He smiled, 'bloodthirsty creature's of nightmares' was taken as a compliment. The fight was soon settle and they teen split themselves into pairs (she went with the ghost, while the humans mingled with themselves). They entered the house and locked the gate behind them, they headed up to the house. She stayed behind, he knew she had sensed him. She stared out for a while to try to find him, and then retreated into the house. There was no need to lock the gate, he couldn't get in anyway. He could nothing else but wait for her to come out. He learned how to wait in the past five centuries of his existence, all the predators wait for their prey.

The time trickled as the sun came came down. He could see the teens decorate the rooms through the windows. They had finished by the time the adult from earlier came over with more human children. The ghost opened the gate for them and let them in. They filed into the house and he saw the teens instructing each other what to do in each room. Eventually, the original set of teens ran out of the house cheering to be free for the evening. The humans left to do whatever humans did for Halloween nowadays, the girl and the ghost stayed by the gate.

"You want to go together?" He heard the girl offer.

"Sure," said the ghost "do you need to change?"

Two white rings of light appeared at her waist and they climbed up and down until they disappeared at her feet and at the top of her head. She was transformed into a fairy, with green and purple butterfly wings and lots of flowers. Her hair once again was snow white and her eyes were glowing amethyst.

"I guess that answers my question." he said.

"Aren't you wearing something?"

"I am, these are the clothes during the time I died. That's the tradition of Danse Macabre, after all. I'm surprised you didn't notice."

She shrugged.

"I thought you were just into steam punk, or it was your day time costume."

"So, should we fly over there?"

"Actually, I want to walk over there. The cemetery is only a few blocks and it's a nice night."

the ghost blinked.

"I guess it's been a while since I was human."

"Luckily we aren't going to a human convention."

"They have those now?"

She laughed, he thought they were like the chiming of a bell. He thought of the taste of taking away that laughter and licked his lips.

They walked a few blocks before they decided to cut through the park. Giving him a chance to catch his prey.

* * *

They were halfway into the park when Ophelia's phone went off. She pulled it out to see what it was. It was a text from Trix.

_Where are you right now?_

_On way to cemetery. _she replied_._

_Where exactly?_

_In the park._

_So am I, meet me by the fountain so we can walk over together._

_Okay, I'm with someone._

_I need to talk to you alone, it's very important._

Ophelia looked at her phone in bewilderment.

"That's my friend Trix, she says she's in the park with us. She wants to talk to me alone."

"I'll wait here."

"Not here, too far away. This feels weird, I want you close by if it isn't her. I've had it happen before."

He shrugged.

Ophelia walked over to the fountain. Her ghostly glow reflected off the running water once she sat down by it. She waited, looking up to at the sky. There were no stars tonight, there was barely a moon. The sky was dark with clouds, concealing the moon and stars. In fact, the whole park was thick with an eerie fog. _Happy Halloween, _she thought, _mother nature threw in a creepy London fog. _

She then sensed Trix, though not exactly as she normally sensed her. It felt like the difference between smelling a field of violets and smelling a bouquet, like Trix's essence was plucked from it's roots. It also felt like the violets were used to cover up a weed.

In the guise of the woods and shadows, Ophelia could see dog-like yellow eyes staring at her hungrily. The eyes didn't scare her, what did scare her was that the eyes stood right where she sensed Trix.

_That is not Trix._

She turned herself invisible and started running off to where Richard was. Before she got out of the clearing, the wolf attached to the hungry eye pounced at her and knocked her down. She turned intangible but the wolf still clung to her, clawing at her arms and shoulders. She continued to kick and scream until she finally kicked the wolf five feet away from her. She got up and backed away from the wolf, who was now licking the blood off of his paws. It looked disappointed once it's paws were clean and licked it's lips staring at the bloody, snow haired fairy. It was about to pounce again when she shot a ghost ray at it, knocking into a tree which fell down on from the force. The wolf whimpered from the pain. It shook it off like it would water and growled at her.

At this point, Richard stepped in by Ophelia's side hands glowing threateningly. The wolf growled some more in defeat before disappearing into the mist. Ophelia could have sworn it had a human silhouette in the mist before it completely vanished.

"You okay, Ophelia?" asked Richard with concern.

"Hm," started Ophelia, "I was just attacked by a supernatural wolf, covered in my own blood, and my costume is completely ruined. OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY!"

"It doesn't look too bad, we just need to wipe off this blood-" He reached towards Ophelia shoulder with a handkerchief.

"Wait, don't-"

Before she could stop him, he touched her shoulder and went through the most excruciating pain he ever experienced in his afterlife. He didn't let go until he collapsed onto the ground.

"Sorry, I have blood blossoms mixed into my blood. Hazardous to ghost, shocks them on contact. But I guess you already know that."

"Blood Blossoms? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, dead?"

"My human half and it's immune system is keeping me alive, but it makes it worse when I come in contact with blood blossoms outside of my system. Which reminds me, I need to burn this dress before they start to bloom."

She transformed into Louis XIV style ballgown with a Venetian masque and her hair up in a Marie Antionette up do. The fairy dress, which was now nothing more than a bloody mass of rags, laid folded in her arms. She dropped the dress onto the concrete walkway and shot it with a ghost ray, setting the dress on fire.

"How does one get blood blossoms mixed into their blood?"

Ophelia stared quietly at the fire for a while, a paned expression was on her face.

"That question has the same answer to the reason why I don't care for December 25th: bad memories that I don't want to talk about."

He nodded in acknowledgement.

"It must have hurt though."

"It was the worse pain you could ever imagine, and it lasted for three months. They had to put me into a coma so I didn't have to feel it. It still hurt when I woke up, though. All pins and needles like when a person's leg falls asleep. But it was bearable at least, and it didn't last long. It went away when I was twelve."

She continued to stare at the fire until it died down, her once beautiful dress was now just a pile of ashes on a charred concrete surface.

"Come on, we better get going if we want to make it to that party."

They started walking out of the park, more wary than before about what was in the mist.

"Richard."

"Yes?"

"I've also found a few more facts about vampires: they are unaffected by intangibility and they cloak their psyches with the very essence of their victims."

She pulled out her phone while she was talking. She dialed a number and put it to her ear.

"Who are you calling?" Richard asked.

"My friend Kitty, I need her to drop by Trix's. We need to meet her over there, something happened. Something really really bad happened."

* * *

They were at a makeshift hospital in Trix's room. A few Observants were there who were old enough to know what they were dealing with. They had Trix lie down on her bed in a clean set of night clothes. A ghost's equivalent of an IV drip was attached to one of her arms while a small bag of raw ectoplasm dripped into another. The ectoplasm wasn't needed, as by the time the Observants had finally arrived Trix had regained a significant amount of ectoplasm. But, as they had explained, it was protocol for vampire attacks, and the Observants always follow protocol.

Kitty was in Johnny consoling arms in the parlor when her cell phone rang. She tried to pull herself together once she saw Ophelia's name on the caller ID.

"Phé?" she answered repressing a sob. Ophelia picked up her grief anyway.

"It got Trix, didn't it?" she spoke in that serious tone she would have when she was just attacked. Only very few people have heard that tone enough to recognize it, Kitty was on of them.

"Yeah, the Observants say she'll be fine. She's strong enough to sustain consciousness, but she still can't get up on her own. I'm guessing it attacked you too."

"Yeah, it clawed me and got blood all over my dress. I had to burn it on the spot. The cuts are pretty deep, but they've already healed. I'm coming over now."

"See you in five seconds then, I guess." She hung up the phone. Seconds later, Ophelia walked in through the door with another ghost shyly following her.

"Who's this?" Kitty asked pointing to the boy ghost.

"This is Richard, he was with me when it attacked. He's cool."

He waved nervously Johnny and Kitty.

"I want to see her." Ophelia said flatly.

"She's in pretty bad shape, Phé," replied Johnny, "I don't think you want to see."

Ophelia's eye blazed a violent shade of purple.

"I just got clawed by a bloodsucking beast and almost got every drop of blood drained out of me, that same bloodsucking beast is probably the same one that attacked her. Let me see her, now!"

Johnny knew better to argue with Ophelia in this state and backed away. Kitty led Ophelia up the stairs leading to the room Trix was recovering. When Trix saw Ophelia enter, she lit up as if she got her energy back.

"Ophelia, thank goodness you're alright."

"You shouldn't worry about me, Trix, and worry more about yourself. Look at you, what in the Ghost Zone did this too you."

Trix looked away, troubled by her experience.

"He must have seen you leave my realm, he asked me who you were. I knew immediately that he was no good and I didn't tell him anything. He bore his teeth at me and I knew immediately I was screwed. I tried to run away, but he found me and... the next thing I remember was waking up to Kitty's hysterical screaming. I was so worried about you, I knew he would drain you dry as soon as he found you."

"Why aren't you worried about yourself? You are the first recorded vampire attack in centuries."

"I'm dead and he attacked me in the Ghost Zone. All he could do was severely weaken me for a while. You are the most of my concerns, for all I know you can die. He plans to you drain you of all the blood and ectoplasm you have in your body. I doubt you would recover from that."

"She couldn't," Kitty interjected, "her blood is ectoplasm and her ectoplasm is blood. If he drained her she would have nothing to replenish with. She would die for sure if he gave her that grace."

"See my point?" Trix said.

Ophelia glared at Kitty.

"What, I was your babysitter remember? You're parents had to tell me a few things so I wouldn't kill you or something, like what that monster's planning on doing to you right now. "

"I'm fine, he did attack me as a wolf but as you can see I handled him just fine."

"Oh really, I can see the claw marks on your shoulders."

"You can also see that they're healing just fine."

"You should go home, Ophelia. Make sure nobody answers the door without your say. Tonight isn't a good night to be out."

"But I want to go to the Danse Macabre, there will be ghosts everywhere. If anything happens there will be two hundred witnesses to pull me out."

"She's right Phé," Trix interjected. "the vampire will be expecting you to go there. The thing is outside so he won't need an invitation."

Ophelia turned to Kitty.

"I bet you and Johnny are still going."

"The thing isn't after my ectoplasm."

"You'd be there to protect me, and so will Richard."

Kitty crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow with a clever smile.

"Do you seriously want to put your friends in danger to protect you?"

Ophelia expression changed. She looked away as she clutched her arm tightly.

"That is just low."

"Low, but it works every time."

Trix just looked on at the two girls, knowing that she was missing something very important. Ophelia crossed her arms and gave a pout that would give Cujo a run for his money. She looked upset and disappointed, it was a sight that could bring a tear to a ghost's eye. Kitty caved.

"Okay, how about this? Johny and I have been to enough of these to miss one year. How about we stay at home with you and watch old horror movies. I know you like to poke fun at the vaudeville ghosts."

Ophelia smiled and gave her a big hug.

"You're one of my best friends in the entire Ghost Zone. Can my other best friend come over and watch it with us?" She half asked the Observants and half asked Trix.

Trix shrugged, "Sure." The Observants agreed as long as she lies down while she's there.

"Hey Johnny!" Kitty shouted to her boyfriend downstairs. "Nix the Danse, we're going to the Fenton's house."

"Aww, can't we just let her die?"

"I heard that, 13!" Ophelia shouted back.

* * *

He found her again, this time at a house he assumed was hers. He could see through the window she was accompanied by three other ghosts, one of them was the girl he met before (he was surprised by how sweet she had tasted, he wanted to go back for seconds). The two girls were dressed in night clothes, the two ghosts that were obviously a couple were dressed in costumes. They were in the living room watching a large television. He could see that on his victim's lap was a little green ghost dog, he was surprised that the dog hadn't detected him yet.

He needed to get to the girl, he had to taste her blood again. It was a purely intoxicating experience. The pure energy mixed in with that luscious taste, it was the best thing he ever tasted in his existence. It made his mouth water simply thinking about it.

He had to find a way to get into the house, or lure the girl out, but how was he suppose to do that? She seemed to sense him, even when he masked himself with her friend's essence, so he couldn't trick her to let him in. The only ghosts he knew she cared for were inside the house and probably knew about him already, so using them as bait wouldn't work either. Still, he did see her with human friends. He could smell them here on the street. He hadn't seen her near them after his encounter, and even then he doubt they would believe her. His favorite thing about humans, other than their blood, was their extreme sense of denial. They simply refuse to believe in things they can't fully understand or can't kill easily. How precious.

He stalked down the street in the form of a fog trying to find his bait. He found the houses easily, but none of the humans he was looking for were at their homes. This was better for him, it meant that they were somewhere out on the streets defenseless and alone. He caught a scent and followed it out of Willow Street.

* * *

Owen hated trick or treating, even when he was a kid. The thought of walking along town in a cold, uncomfortable costume just did not seem appealing. Not even the bribery of free candy changed his mood, especially since his parents would make him stay in the infamous "red zone" neighborhoods where the houses would give out healthy food and coins. The only reason he even went trick or treating would be to go with his friends, especially since they would sneak him out to the Elysium of candy. But now that none of them do trick or treating anymore, he thought he was in the clear. He was wrong.

Now he had to chaperone his kid sister and her little friends around the neighborhoods. What was even worse was that some of these kids had paranoid parents who would sew tracking devices into their costumes. Not only was he stuck brat wrangling around the neighborhood without the prize of candy, he had to stay within the limits of the red zone without any chance of escaping to Candy Elysium. Lucky for him, he wasn't the only one who had a kid sibling.

"Luci, stop screaming. Thank the nice man for the granola bar so we can leave." Sadly, the stork had also dropped by Em's house seven years ago, cursing her with the candyless trick or treating.

"Thank you mister Abominable Snowman. " said the children in unison.

"I'm not wearing a costume. Fall of the House of Usher!"

They retreated from that house and moved on to the next one.

"You know Em, you're with the drama club. You could've stayed at the haunted house and say it's a school thing."

"Yeah, but I feel bad thinking of you alone with the little monsters."

"I'm not a monster, I'm a mermaid princess!"

"Anyway, I grew up with you and I know you hate this stuff. It would be cruel to leave you alone."

"Thanks. What do you think Ophelia does for Halloween?"

Em rolled her eyes, she tried to repress her laughter. Owen raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Why does everyone give me that look when I talk about Ophelia."

"No reason."

"No, I want to know. Lately, everyone has been laughing every time I mention her. Even Ophelia gives me a funny look. Is there something people aren't telling me?"

Em bit her lip as her eyes darted side to side. It was then that she started to notice the creepy guy watching them.

"Hey, how long has that guy been watching us?"

"Don't change the subject Em. Answer my question."

"I will, after we shake this guy loose. He's giving me the creeps."

They walked a few blocks trying to shake the man loose. He didn't necessarily follow them, they never actually saw him advance a step towards them. He just seemed to be there whenever they turned a corner, half hidden in the eerie mist. After a few blocks without stopping by the house they finally stopped.

"That's it," Em said aggressively, "Owen, stay with the kids. I'm going to give this guy a piece of my mind."

She was stomping over there, rolling up her sleeves in a threatening manner, when Owen pulled her back by the shoulder.

"Wait up Em, you don't know if the guy is dangerous. Maybe I should go over there."

"Dude, no offense but you are a terrible fighter. I'm a ninth degree black belt, I think I can handle myself."

"Hey, I can totally take care of myself."

"That's good, now go take care of the kids as well as yourself."

Em walked off to confront the guy. Owen forgets that Em can be a bit like Darcy in where neither take anything from anybody. In fact both earned their ninth degree black belts at the same time and both took the motto "fight, not flight". Otherwise, they are completely different people.

"Hey, creep! Why have you been following us?"

"I've been trying to talk to the two of you for quite a while, but you were too close to the children."

"Well, I'm here. Talk."

"Do you happen to know a half-ghost girl with raven black hair and green eyes?"

"What's it to you?"

"Well, she's at home and I can't go in and I need someone to drag her out."

"Why can't you ask her yourself?"

"She knows me, and she wouldn't let me in. I need permission to enter someone's home."

"What are you, some kind of vampire?"

At this he smiled, showing his sharp canines.

"Not _some_ kind of vampire, a vampire."

She wasn't sure if this guy was for real or not. All she knew was that something bad was going down if she didn't do something about it. He made grab for her and she blocked and countered it with a roundhouse kick. It hit it's target, but he didn't react to it. It seemed like it was more of a playful tap to him. In her surprise, she continued to attack with the same result. Eventually she stopped when she realized that what she was doing wasn't working.

"My turn."

Faster than her reflexes, he grabbed Em by the throat and tossed her down like a plush toy. He let her take a few breathes before stomping down on her and pinning her to the ground.

"Ah, humans. You think you can take on anything that challenges you. This is what I miss during all those years in the Ghost Zone."

Owen, during this time, was calling up the police. Now, he decided to go over and try to get Em out of there. He tried to charge at him, but the guy swung him around and he flew a few feet away.

"I only need one of you two to bait the girl out of her house, the other could just as easily be used to whet my appetite. It has been quite a long time since I had a taste of human blood."

He held up Owen by the collar of his shirt when he was saying this. When he finished he dropped him at his feet.

"But I can wait. I already had ectoplasm today and I don't want to fill myself up before I get my hands on her. You are very lucky, at least one of you."

He grabbed Em and kicked Owen over to his back.

"Enjoy your night, I promise to return her as soon as I no longer need her. I'm not making any promises that she will be in the same condition as she is now."

He disappeared with Em into the mist. By the time Owen managed to get up, the police had arrived and the whole neighborhood crowded around him failing to process what had happened.

* * *

Ophelia was still pretty bummed that she missed out on the Danse Macabre. The only thing that was cheering her up was her theory of the party. Because the party was a tradition amongst all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone, it was more than possible that the party was boring. After all, she had never attended one before, for all she knew what her friends had told could be all hype. That will be something she'll have to prove next year, when a supposedly fictional parasitic being isn't trying to kill her and drain her if her life essence.

They had just went through all the iconic movies of the 1940's and were starting on the fifties. Ophelia was no longer in costume but now in her comfiest and most goth looking set of sweats. Trix had regained enough of her strength to ditch the IV had Cujo sleeping in her lap, the little thing had tired himself out earlier when he was running around the house waiting for everyone to come home. Because of the recent incident at school that got her sent to haunted house duty, Ophelia had to activate the ghost shield they had installed into the house during the daytime to keep him from following her around and getting her in trouble. She hated to do it but she can't risk getting detention. Casper High only do haunted houses once a year.

"Johnny, don't you remember this movie?" Kitty asked in his arms.

"It's a little older than when we were alive. Wait, now I remember. This was the movie that was on TV when I first came over to your house. Your parents were watching it while a climbed into your window."

"You were regular Romeo, weren't you Johnny?" Ophelia said in a jocular tone, her eyes still glued to the screen.

"Oh, and I suppose you never had a guy your parents didn't approve of."

"You have to have dated to have at least one guy your parents don't approve of, A. And B, I highly doubt sneaking in though her window helped your case with them."

Johnny gave her an upsetting glare, and she just smiled.

"Dude, you know I'm kidding. Obviously you guys were meant to be together, for better or for worse. If you weren't, either you would have left her for the first blonde you drooled over or she would have blown you her kiss of death as soon as you laid eyes on another girl and let you stay there."

Kitty and Johnny looked at each other like they were about to go into an argument, but then they shrugged in agreement and returned their attention to the screen. It was then that Ophelia's phone started to ring in the kitchen. She excused herself from the living room and walked over to the kitchen. She checked the caller ID and found it was Owen, she answered the phone.

"Hey Owen," she greeted, "how's your trick or treating misadventure going?"

"I had to take the kids back home. Ophelia, something really bad just happened."

"Why did you have to take the kids home by yourself? I thought Em went with you."

"That's what I need you to talk to you about. Some guy took Em. He was looking for you and said he needed one of us to lure her out of the house. He said the only reason I'm alive is because he was saving room for you."

Ophelia was speechless for a moment. _He followed me to the haunted house, he was there the whole time._

"Did you talk to the police?"

"I did, but when I told them that she was attacked by a vampire they laughed at me like they thought I was kidding. They're looking for a human, and I don't think they're prepared. Em tried to beat him down and he tossed her aside like a rag doll."

"Owen, I know exactly who you're talking about. Take your little sister and go home, do not answer the door for anyone. I'll let you know when it's safe. I'm calling my dad right now."

"Okay, be safe. Please call me in the morning if you're okay."

He hung up. She dialed her dad's cell number. Right now, she knew, her parents were at the NASA Halloween party and she didn't expect them until morning. Sadly, this was getting too crazy to handle on her own. After a few rings, her dad answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dad, you and mom have to come home right now."

"What's wrong honey. Is there a ghost after you?"

"No worse, apparently vampires are real and they feed off of ectoplasm as well as blood and it attacked Trix and tried to drink my blood and it attacked Owen and Em and it took Em so I would leave the house to save her and I don't know what to do! HELP!"

It took him a minute to process what she just said.

"Did you talk to the police?"

"Owen already did and they didn't believe him. They're looking for a human, and this thing is anything but."

"Stay in the house and put up the ghost shields, we'll be home soon."

"Okay."

As soon as she hung up her phone rang. It was Em's phone. She answered.

"Hello?"

It wasn't Em on the other line, it was a man's voice. A chill ran down her spine.

"By now you must know I have your friend. And you must know of my intent so I'll just get to the point. Meet me in the mausoleum of your town's cemetery. You can bring in reinforcements if you want or not, it won't make any difference to me."

"You back off! You leave me and my friends alone. I've done nothing to you and neither have my friends. Why don't you just crawl back under the rock from whence you came and leave me alone!"

"I will, after I've had my fill of your blood. You either come now or I'll drain every drop of your friends, starting with the one I have now. I'll give you half an hour."

He hung up. Ophelia stared blackly out the window, trying not to drop the phone she still kept to her ear. She was still in this state when Cujo whimpered at her feet and her friends were standing in the kitchen. They listened in to the three phone calls and got the gist of the whole situation. It spared her from having to fill them in, but it didn't make her feel any better.

* * *

The Amity Park cemetery was a quiet and empty place. It was strictly a place to say dispose the bodies of the dead to be forgotten. It used to be a place where people came to pay their respects after the funerals, but with the discovery of ghosts and the accessibility to travel between the worlds people decided to visit their relatives instead of their graves. No one, not even the ghosts, stay in the cemetery. The only exception was the Danse Macabre.

On Halloween, the natural portals would open more frequently, most would remain until the crack of dawn on November first. Because of this, the ghosts developed a tradition. During the day, they would visit the Human Plane to see the world they had left behind as well as the people they one knew. When the sun went down, they wore the evening clothes of their time period and would go to the cemeteries their bodies were buried in. All that night they would dance the night away to the songs that were as dead as they were. The dance would end on the approach of dawn, where they would return to their homes in the Ghost Zone while the portals were still open. Now that the living and the dead were on speaking terms more frequently, some of the rules of the Danse Macabre have been softened. Now the ghosts could hold the party wherever they wanted and dress in costumes like the humans do. In Amity Park, the ghosts still kept the tradition of the cemetery, and since they see humans all the time, they remained excluded from the event. The only humans in the cemetery tonight was the semi-famous half-ghost and her friend who was hidden somewhere amongst the graves.

It was the most extravagant party she had ever seen. The multicolored glow of ecto-energy illuminated the otherwise dark and gloomy burial ground. Music filled the air, from where she did not know. But she swear in the corner of her eye she could see musicians playing the music in the shadows. Ghosts dressed in vivid costumes danced on the ground and in the air. There was a small spread, for very few of the ghosts ate. Why she never went to one of these before, she didn't know and was kicking herself for it.

"Okay," Said Ophelia when she laid eyes on the Danse Macabre, "I can safely throw my 'all hype' theory out the window."

Ophelia went with Kitty, Johnny, a fully recovered Trix and a little Cujo in tow. She preferred they went back to their homes away from the overgrown, glorified mosquito, but it's also their party and they have just as much right to go as the next ghost.

"You guys enjoy the party," she told them when they arrived,"I'll go over and handle this myself."

"Uh uh," Kitty said as she grabbed Ophelia by the shoulder when she was about to walk away, "there is no way I'm letting you do this alone."

"Neither am I," interjected Trix.

"I'm not going to have you guys get yourselves hurt because of me, _again," _she glared at Trix when she said that. "This is my problem and I have to deal with it alone."

"No, it isn't just your problem." said Kitty, "This a vampire, when it's done with you it will go after everyone in Amity Park, ghost or human. You're not the only one under obligation to take him down."

"Yeah," agreed Trix, "and besides we're ghosts. We're already dead, he can't do any worse than what he did to me. And as you can tell, I'm a fast healer."

"I still say no. He has my friend, he can kill her if he thinks there's a problem or on his own whim. I don't know how he will react with you guys coming with me and I don't want to risk it. You should enjoy the party, it's your right."

Before they could say anything, she promptly disappeared into the crowd. Kitty and Trix admitted surrender, but Johnny and Cujo thought otherwise. Without any hesitation, the ghost dog barreled cheerily after his owner, as if they were simply strolling through they park.

"Shadow," Johhny commanded and his shadow rose to the ground in response, "follow Ophelia and make sure she doesn't get hurt. Report to me if there's trouble you can't handle."

Shadow nodded and sunk back into the ground. It crawled in the direction Ophelia left and disappeared into the mixture of other shadows on the ground. Johnny turned to his girlfriend, who was sporting a distressing look of concern, and comforted her.

"It'll be fine, Babydoll. The brat's too stubborn to die. My shadow will be there to let us know if anything goes wrong. Everything's going to be fine."

Kitty nodded and sunk into his chest to hide her tears. Johnny just stood there to comfort her. Trix saw this and walked off into the direction of the mausoleum. There was no need for her to be there but there was a need to be by her friend.

Meanwhile Ophelia was halfway across the cemetery where the mausoleum lied. She was amazed by the Danse as she emerged deeper and deeper into crowd of dancing ghosts.

"Phé?" She turned to find Richard.

"Oh, hey Richard."

"I thought you were staying home tonight. Aren't you worried about the vampire attacking you again?"

"Well, I am, but I couldn't just stay at home. Kitty agreed that I should be here tonight, she's somewhere around here keeping an eye on me." She looked down and saw Johnny's shadow overlapping her's. _Right on cue._

"Well, okay. Shall we dance?"

"I would, but I..." _I can't just tell him I'm on my way to be drained by a bloodthirsty leech. _"I have to meet someone first. Be back as soon as I can."

She darted off as fast as she could without it looking suspicious. She decided to fly the rest of the way there over, around, and through the crowd. In no time, she found the mausoleum at the edge of the cemetery concealed in the shadows. She shut her eyes and saw in the back of her head Em's golden color. She could tell that Em was both scared and steaming mad, mostly mad. She could tell that Em was planning to rip the guy apart limb from limb when she got the chance. What she couldn't sense was the vampire, and she was relieved by it.

She phased through the roof and landed into absolute darkness. Her ghostly glow was able to shed some light but not enough for any use. She formed a ball of ecto-energy like the ones she saw in the party and tossed it up into the air. Once it hit the ceiling it change from green to white and filled the whole room with light. She found Em lying on a stone coffin, her hands were behind her back indicating she was bound.

"Em, it's me." She whispered, "come on, we're getting you out of here."

She didn't respond. Concerned, Ophelia walked over to her and shook her a little bit.

"Em? Are you okay? Wake up."

She shook her a little more and this time Em turned to her. She was pale, deathly pale, as if there was no blood in her. Her neck and clothes were stained in her own blood, Ophelia could see the stone was dripping with blood. She was speechless with shock. She nearly backed away, but then her senses cam back to her. She checked her pulse, it was faint but it was still there. She found that Em was still breathing. She unbound Em and held her in her arms.

"Don't worry, Em, I'm getting you to a hospital."

She opened a portal to an ER right by an empty bed and placed Em on it. She was about to climb in after her but was grabbed and thrown across the room. She crashed into the stone wall, leaving a huge crack. She got up to find the portal closing and a man in Victorian style clothes approaching her.

"You took longer then I expected." he said non-chalantly, "She wouldn't stop talking, I had to silence her somehow."

"You said you wouldn't hurt her if I came."

"I said I wouldn't drain her completely. She still has enough blood for her heart to pump, she'll be okay for now. It's more than I can say for you."

He stepped forward and she threw a ghost ray at him. He grabbed it like it was a baseball and it absorbed into it's body. He smiled at her, like a animal at it's prey.

"Do you seriously think that would do anything to me. I feed of the energy of ghosts, that was a shot of espresso for me."

She got up and was phasing through the wall, but he grabbed her by her hair while she was half-way into the wall and threw her onto the the stone coffin.

"Now, now the more you struggle the hungrier I get. The hungrier I get, the least likely you are to survive."

"How can you be hungry, you nearly killed two of my friends in one day!"

"Do you know what your blood tastes like? It is the most powerful, mouth-watering, irresistible thing I've ever tasted in my life. Telling me I've had enough is cutting off a heroine addict after they had a small taste of the good stuff. You always have enough room for the good stuff."

He moved his hand from her throat to her shoulders, pinning her down to the coffin. With all her might, she struggled out of his grip but to no avail. When she started to move her head around to move away from his teeth, he placed on of his hands on the back of her head to expose her neck and the jugular vein. Right when he was about to sink his teeth, something pushed him out of the way and freed Ophelia from his grasp. It was Johnny's shadow, in all the chaos Ophelia had forgotten about the shadow. Shadow tried to devour the vampire into it's darkness, but the vampire overpowered it and threw it into the orb of light that still hung onto the ceiling. It recoiled in pain and scurried away from the mausoleum in search for it's master.

_Gee, that was helpful. _

She was about to run out through the walls but he grabbed her again.

"Now where were we?"

He positioned her the same way earlier, holding her down by the sternum to prevent movement and holding her head to expose the jugular vein. With only her struggling to deter him, he bit her and started drinking her blood.

She slowly felt her energy leave her as her heartbeat slowed from lack of blood. She could feel some of it ooze down her neck a a warm trickle and feel her clothes stick onto her body as it was being stained red. She started to feel dizzy and had a hard time keeping her eyes open let alone continue her struggle. Soon all she felt was his teeth digging into her neck greedily scraping up every drop.

Suddenly, the digging stopped. Somewhere faint and distant, she heard the sound of someone choking.

"You horrid little girl," she heard a voice say, "you tainted yourself with poison."

_What on Earth is he talking about?_

She turned her head and saw with her blurry vision a figure with a dripping red mouth with it's hands at it's throat. It sank to it's knees and soon it became harder and harder to see the figure. It seemed to be crumbling to dust before her very eyes. Soon all there was was a pile of dust and blood stains on the floor. That was when see could no longer keep her eyes open. The last thing she remembered was a familiar voice screaming for her to wake up and two hands violently shaking her before retracting in pain.

* * *

She heard a faint sound of beeping and pattering, after a while she got herself to open her eyes awake. She was lying on a bed in a hospital room. The beeping was from the heart monitor and the pattering was from rain falling against the window. She got up slowly and found her parents asleep in their chairs.

"Mom? Dad?" she said groggily.

They woke up at the sound of her voice.

"Ophelia?"

"Sweety?"

Once they saw it was her and she was awake they ambushed her with hugs.

"Oh, my poor baby!" Sam said while squeezing the air out of her daughter's lungs.

"Easy Sam," Danny warned his wife, "I don't think she's strong enough yet to go without breathing."

"I'm not." Ophelia choked out.

"Oh, sorry hun." Sam retracted while blushing. "How are you feeling?"

"Broken ribs and throbbing neck aside, I think I'll live."

"You got us worried," said Danny, "by the time we got home there was nobody there and a phone call from the hospital."

"How's Em?" Ophelia asked.

"You should be more worried about yourself. I told you to stay home until your mother and I got there."

"But he had her and threatened to kill her if I didn't give myself up."

"And looked what happened? They found you bleeding to death in a sealed tomb. You barely had enough blood left in you to sustain a heartbeat."

"I couldn't have let my friend die. She was in a worse state then I probably was when I found her."

"Look, Ophelia!" Sam shouted, "You can't go and sacrifice yourself for everyone. You have to think more practically about these things. Do you think Em or anyone would forgive themselves if you got yourself killed for them?"

"Where's Em? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, she got discharged yesterday."

"Yesterday! How long have I been out?"

"You've been out for three days. You could've recovered earlier but the doctors kept trying to give you blood transfusions. You'd think they'd listen to the famous Danny Phantom when he says that his half-ghost daughter rejects has an immune system that rejects normal blood types."

Ophelia smiled, then a thought hit her.

"You said that I was already at the hospital when you got home. Who brought me here?"

"That new kid at your school." answered Sam.

"The ghost who's pretending to be human," Danny added, "I think he said his name was Richard Something."

"Richard Waltz?"

"Yeah that's it. He said he saw you at the party and followed into the mausoleum after he saw Johnny's shadow retreat form it. He and the Dodgsons' boy have been visiting you everyday."

"Is he here?"

"Yeah, I think so.." Just then, both Danny's and Ophelia's ghost sense went off as Richard walked into the room.

"Ophelia, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

"As any other person would feel after being drained by a vampire and suffocated by their concerned mother."

"Does that mean you're okay?"

Ophelia smiled.

"Yes, yes it does."

Richard walked over and gave her a soft hug.

"How did you defeat the vampire?" She asked.

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same question. When I came in, he was nothing more than a pile of smouldering ashes and you were dripping with blood. I got stung by it when I tried to wake you up by the way."

Ophelia thought about it, she did remember someone trying to wake her up. She also remember the overgrown leech yelling at her about being poisoned. _Poisoned!_

"I think I know what happened. You should add this to your vampire notes. Blood Blossoms are lethal to vampires when consumed. He must have drank enough that the blossoms in my system killed him."

"So you're vampire proof as well as ghost proof? You are one of a kind, Ophelia Fenton."

"Thanks, I never want to do that again."


	11. Fairest of Them All (Part 1)

It had been a tiring afternoon for the world's only natural born half ghost. After school, Track practice, and the little tutorials with Richard somewhere in between, Ophelia flew (not walked) straight home and crash landed onto the couch in the living room. Her even faithful canine companion pattered up and nuzzled her for his daily dose of affection. She let out a groan from the cushions as she sat up and held Cujo in her lap.

"You understand what a cell phone is, don't you boy?" she said to Cujo, recalling her tutorial with Richard. Cujo barked an oblivious reply.

"Yeah, you do. And if a dog – no, a _ghost dog_ – can understand what a cell phone is, a ghost _boy_ should figure it out too. Ugh, I need to rot this day out of my brain, fast."

Cujo panted happily, giving no clear sign about his opinion. Ophelia smile as she grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV.

A few minutes later her mother entered the door, equally exhausted from a long day of work.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?"

Ophelia said nothing. She appeared to be too absorbed by the TV to notice.

"Nice to hear you had a great day at school." Sam said snarky after failing to get her daughter's attention, "I had a long day myself, and it's still not done. I have to go over and have dinner with an old friend. From high school. In the Ghost Zone."

Ophelia put the TV on mute and looked over at her mother curiously. True, her parents were on good terms with many ghosts. In fact, they had just as many friends as they did enemies. However, never in her life had Ophelia seen a ghost invite them over for dinner (usually because none of them would eat frequent enough for the occasional dinner).

"Dinner? In the Ghost Zone? What kind of friend is this? Is Dad going with you?"

"Sadly no, he has to do overtime at the station tonight. You can come with me if you like. Though, I'm not sure it would be your cup of tea."

"Are you kidding? I love seeing your old high school friends, it lets me know how crazy you really were."

"Well, Dora is definitely a surprise."

"Then I'm definitely going."

"Okay, but I must warn you. She has a little dress code. Her realm is trying to catch up with the times, but they're trying to do it slowly so they won't be driven mad."

"So I have to dress in period clothing, how bad could that be?"

* * *

"Really, really bad. I hate it!"

When Ophelia heard she had to dress in period clothing, she thought of something as early as the 18th century. She didn't expect to be thrown into the Dark Ages. Her mother gave her a dress with puffy sleeves and a skirt that trailed all the way down the stairs. It came with a headdress to tuck away every strand of hair on her head, though the bulk of it itself was twice the size of the head it covered.

"Oh, come on, Phé." Sam said from inside her and Danny's closet, "It isn't any worse than something your grandmother gives you."

"That's like saying it isn't anything worse than getting your teeth pulled and you _know _it!"

"Why don't you fix it? That's what I do with all the clothes I have to wear to see Dora."

Sam stepped out of the closet to show one of her altered outfits. The skirt down to the ankle and adorned the top layer of the skirt with a thin silvery fabric similar to cobwebs. The headdress was nothing more then a small cover that held a veil of the same cobweb fabric, the headdress was held by silver skulls. A silver skull adorned a black choker.

Ophelia glared at the dress with a mischievous smile. The dress began to glow green and disintegrated in Ophelia's hands. She brushed off the ash off her hands with a smug look on her face. The two white rings appeared and changed her into a purple gown with a corseted back and a skirt that stopped right at her toes. The long sleeves fanned out from the elbow wrist. A silver and amethyst diadem rested on her head. Her hair was pulled back, with stray strands falling on the sides of her face.

"Fixed it!" she announced.

Sam scowled at her child with a hand on her hip.

"For someone who doesn't like to use her powers, you sure use them a lot."

"Hey, I never said I didn't want to use my powers, I just don't want to use them to fight. I think I have a right to have it both ways."

"In a perfect world, yes, but this is a world of supervillains and bad laws. And you need to learn to do things without your powers."

"And you need to learn how to walk without legs." Ophelia scoffed. "Or how to look at a picture without eyes. Which reminds me," she went rummaging through her closet and pulled out two cameras.

"What do you think, Mom, film or digital?"

"Stick with film, technology is a little sketchy there. We've only managed to get the Speeder to work without any issues, but small things like a camera will short out at any given moment."

"Meaning, I'll lose my pictures?"

"Pretty much, I think it happened before when your father and I tried to get some for our database back in high school."

Ophelia shrugged and stashed the digital camera away. She pulled out a camera bag equipped with everything she would need for her film camera. She followed her mother out of the room towards the garage where the Speeder was stored. She looked down at her camera.

"I hope you're right about this place, Owen's going to love them."

"You're still talking to him? I thought you guys would keep your distance from each other since he asked you out."

Ophelia was very lucky she had the camera strapped around her neck; else she would have dropped it down the stairs.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Parents talk, your friends' parents like to talk about their kids."

Ophelia rolled her eyes.

"He wasn't really asking me out, we just haven't seen each other-"

"Since you walked into his dream. Your father told me about that one."

Ophelia's faced went red.

"That couldn't have mean anything, people dream weird stuff all the time. He probably got over it by now; crushes can go just as easily as they came. We're just friends, that's all we're ever going to be."

Sam smirked; she's heard that before.

"Sure, sure, forget I mentioned it."

"Thank you" Ophelia said relieved. She put her camera away in her bag while following Sam down the stairs.

_Went into the boys head and she still think they're just friends. _Sam thought. _Clueless._

* * *

Over the years, the palace started to radiate with life (or afterlife, as the case may be). The once dead forest was filled with lush green trees and singing birds (whether the birds were truly there was unknown). The black waters became a crystal blue as it surrounded the castled it the moat and streams. The castle itself, a once dark and dismal grey that crumbled and cracked, was now a stone blue and covered in green, green ivy.

And then there was the sun, or whatever bright light emulated the sun. That was the first thing to arrive after the dethroning of Aragon. The light shined brightly against the jade green sky (the only thing to indicate that this was still the Ghost Zone), radiating energy onto the land softly and sweetly as the real sun on the Human Plane. Ophelia couldn't help but look at it in awe.

"Wow, this is definitely on the top five on the list of awesome places in the Ghost Zone."

Sam looked back at her curiously.

"You have a list?"

"Not me, something my friends put together at school. We started putting a scrapbook together with all the pictures I've been taking." Ophelia started putting her camera together as she said that. "This place might be a four-pager."

Sam smiled as she landed the Speeder in front of the castle, across the moat. Ophelia darted out and started snapping pictures.

The drawbridge dropped across the moat. A few guards, dressed in blue and green, flanked the entrance as the princess of the realm, Dorothea Aragon, approached the Fenton women. Sam walked up to her and they hugged each other.

"Samantha, it's so good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Dora." Sam took Ophelia's hand and pulled her towards Dora.

"Dora, this is my daughter, Ophelia. Ophelia, I would like to introduce to you Princess Dorothea. She rules this entire realm."

Ophelia smiled genuinely, though she clawed her mother's wrist in response to the word "princess". Dora smiled as she placed her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"It's so nice to meet you, Ophelia, I've heard a lot about you."

"Really, I don't think my mother has ever told me anything about you." She turned to her mother. "Especially about you being a _princess._" She hissed through her smile.

Sam bit her lip. Ever since she was little, Ophelia hated anything involving princesses. The very mention of it, as Sam had seen, made her inwardly cringe. She and Danny had thought it was something she had got from her mother or a nasty aftertaste from her grandmother's cotillion summers, but as they got older they had notice it was something a little more serious than a personality trait. To this day, they never knew why Ophelia hated anything under the princess category, but they found that Ophelia hardly knew herself.

"I suppose it is hard to explain someone like me without seeing them in person. " She looked Ophelia over. "My, you have all of your parents best features. You look just like your mother did when I took her-"

"Took me horseback riding." Sam said nervously while elbowing Dora. "This place is so beautiful for riding that she let me do with her."

Ophelia raised a suspicious eyebrow with a wry smile. _This trip might not blow after all._

* * *

When Dora explained that dinner wouldn't be for a while, Ophelia disappeared into the many chambers of the castle with her camera. As she filled the candlelit halls with bulb flashes, Dora and Sam made themselves comfortable with the most lavished and brightly lit parlors this realm had to offer. Music and wine was also offered, which Sam graciously took a glassful.

"She is quite an amusing young girl, Samantha." Dora said, "Why haven't you or you husband taken her to our realm before?"

"Well, you know. Our schedules get so busy and they don't quite sync up well. And she used to spend most of her summers with her grandmother so…" Sam downed her wine. Dora raised an eyebrow. She stared down at her glass as she swirled the wine around.

"Ah, that makes sense. For some reason, I thought it had something to do with our past history. Particularly with my brother-"

Sam choked on her wine so hard that she had to spit it out. Dora turned herself intangible just in time to miss the backwash.

"I thought this had something to do with Aragon." Dora smiled as she made herself tangible.

Sam was still coughing when she argued.

"It's just…" cough "…a little embarrassing…" cough, cough, " to tell my daughter I almost got…" cough, cough, "…married off to…" cough, cough, cough,

Dora patted Sam's back to help her clear her throat.

"There, there, how about you clear out your throat before you talk, hm? Honestly, I'm surprised I got you fit enough to stand on stage for that pageant, let alone for Aragon."

Sam smiled when she finally got her throat cleared.

"Like I would ever let you put me in anything pink. Anyway, I don't think it would be a good idea mentioning your brother around Ophelia, okay? I want to keep her as ignorant of that knowledge as possible."

"Oh come on, Samantha. It's not that embarrassing nearly being betrothed to someone as horrible as my brother. You should be looking back at this and laughing."

"I am, I'd just rather laugh quietly, and alone. I'll tell her eventually, so if you don't mind…"

Dora raised her hand.

"It's alright, I won't mention anything to her unless you tell me when it's okay."

Sam smiled as she took another sip.

"I guess we can talk about him while we're out of earshot, how is the royal pain anyway?"

Dora rolled her eyes.

"Still a pain, but at least he's rotting away in the dungeons where I don't have to suffer his temper tantrums."

"Ugh, my sympathies sister."

"Well, he doesn't have his amulet anymore, leaving him without any powers to act out his emotions."

"If I haven't mentioned before, I'll mention it now. You are a better ruler than your brother ever was."

"That's because you helped me stand up to him, you and Daniel. I just hope your daughter becomes as great a friend as you have been to me."

"I have no doubts in that."

Sam raised her glass for a toast.

"To a great kingdom without Aragon."

Dora smiled and raised her glass.

"To a great kingdom without Aragon." She said as she clinked her glass with Sam's.

* * *

Ophelia lost herself in her photography. She had taken pictures of practically every room in the castle from the topmost towers and now the depths of the dungeons. It had become far too dark for her flash to compensate, and so she generated a ball of white light and tossed it up into the air. The darkness and the fact that she had to phase through the locked doors reminded her of Halloween, though she shrugged off the memory quite easily. Why worry your mind over a dead parasite when there were worse things to worry about?

She made her way down into a cellblock. Most of them were empty and locked shut, ready to be occupied by the next non-corporeal prisoner. But there was one cell on the end, more fortified and decorated than the others, where the door was left wide open from what Ophelia could see from her side of the block.

"Curious" she whispered as she flew over. Once she got close, she found that there were armed guards flanking the doors. They lay unconscious on the floor, or at least they seemed unconscious at first glance. When Ophelia got close enough to them, she could hear them groan under their armor. Whatever had happened, it had left them too weak to get up under the weight of the armor.

Ophelia snapped a couple more picture of the cell and guards before helping them up.

"Are you guys okay?"

"We are afraid not, milady," answered one of the guards, "none of us are 'okay' as you say?"

"Why is that?"

"The Prince has escaped." Replied the other, " and he has surely found his amulet by now."

"Prince? Amulet? What on earth are you talking-"

Just at that moment, the whole palace shook. A bellow from a ferocious beast soon followed after it along with a few screams. Ophelia's eyes flashed in surprise.

"What was that?"

"The Prince has found his power once more." Said the guard ominously.

The castle shook once again. More screams could be heard.

"Mom!" Ophelia flew though the ceiling until she fond the parlor she last saw her. The room was empty. There was a mess but it was more from a hasty evacuation rather than a struggle.

"Mom?" Ophelia called out. She walked up to the large doors that led to the dining hall. She opened to find a large crimson eye staring back at her. Having yet to assess the situation, Ophelia snapped a picture of the eye. The eye turned into large jagged teeth that let out a roar that blew Ophelia's hair back.

"My, what big teeth you have." She said in slight shock.

Right when those teeth were to snap a bite at her, Ophelia shut the door and locked it. She pressed her back against the door for assurance.

The creature burst through the door, knocking them halfway across the room with Ophelia under them. She phased through the doors and sat up, still trying to gather her bearings. As she did so, she noticed a big black claw with green talons not too far from her head. She followed the claw upwards to find it belong to a very large, black dragon with purple wings and spines running down his back and green horns on his head, wings, and the end of his tail (similar to a medieval flail).

"Whoa" Ophelia said, "I know that no medieval castle is ever complete without a dragon, but. …whoa."

The dragon lowered his head to inspect the tiny girl at his feet. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He bared his teeth as he let out a threatening snarl. He raised his claw, poised to tears the ghost girl to shreds. Right when Ophelia generated an ecto-sheild to protect herself, a ghost ray was shot at the dragon's claw, causing it to recoil. Ophelia dematerialized the shield when she saw the shot came from her mother and her smoking lipstick.

"The Fenton Lipstick, Mom? Seriously? Why don't you go ahead and save my life with the Fenton Eyelash Curler?"

"Now is not the time to criticize my choice of weaponry," her mother chided, "we have to get out of hear, now!"

"What about Dora?"

Just as she mentioned Dora, the dragon took in a deep breath. He breathed out an intense blue flame. Ophelia ducked out of the way, though not enough to keep her hair from being singed an inch shorter. Once she safely rolled to her mother's side, Sam grabbed her by the arm and led her out.

"No time, Ophelia, Dora will have to handle it herself."

Sam led her out to the Spectre Speeder across the moat. Sam shut the door after Ophelia and started up the ship. They flew out of the portal before they could see the dragon making any attempt to follow them.

* * *

"That was a _dragon_! A full-grown, fire breathing, fresh from the story book _dragon!_"

As soon as they were safely at home, Ophelia spent what seemed like the rest of the night badgering her mother for answers.

"What was a dragon doing in Dora's castle?"

"He's a…. family pet." Sam covered quickly, "Dora has had him as long as she could remember."

"Some pet, that thing tried to freaking _eat me_!"

"Yeah, well the family does have their anger issues. It shouldn't be surprise that the family dragon is irascible as well."

"Shouldn't we go back there, or go call up postmortem animal control or something? And what about that prisoner?"

Sam's eyes widened.

"What prisoner?"

"I was down in the dungeons taking pictures and saw a prison cell was broken open and the guards were knocked down. When I helped them up, they were talking about the prince has escaped and how we were all in grave danger and stuff like that. What prince are they talking about, I thought Dora was the only royalty."

"Whatever they were talking about that dragon may have already taken care of it." Ophelia narrowed her eyes. She usually gets straight answers from her parents regarding their pasts, but there were always a couple of occasions where they would lie if not clam up altogether. In those times she knew she was never going get the truth out of them. She could tell that this was one of those occasions. She considered using her little talent to look into her mother's memories, but that could take a lot out of her and she had no cover of how she got the information if she did. If her parents thought that going into someone's dreams were an invasion of privacy, if not just plain rude, then they definitely wouldn't approve of something as invasive as insight.

So, with a sigh of exhaustion, Ophelia ended her little interrogation and went up to her room in surrender. Or at least, she was giving up for now.

* * *

It was only lunchtime and Ophelia was exhausted. Today Richard was being exceptionally (and probably intentionally) clueless. She couldn't believe she had to explain to him what a laptop was. All she wanted to do now was to buy her lunch and relax before her algebra test. She opened her locker and was about to put away her books when something fell out. It was a flower, a rather unnatural flower. It was a deep purple rose with a dark green stem. The thorns and some of the leaves were cut. She assumed it was bought from a pretty professional florist. There was a scroll of paper tied wrapped around the rose's stem, tied neatly by a ribbon matching the color of the rose. She untied the ribbon and pulled the paper off the rose to read it.

_A rose to match the eyes of the fairest of them all._

_A rarity just like you yet its beauty pales in comparison._

Ophelia blushed. This had to be some sort of joke; one of the boys must've planted it in her locker to see if she got all gushy over a silly flower. Or maybe one of the girls to see if she would actually think someone would give her a rose. "Fairest of them all"? No boy in this century would actually write a line so corny. The note was handwritten in calligraphy letters, yet she couldn't read a decent psyche off of it. Usually with handmade object, there would be a psyche attached to it from the effort and emotion caused to make it. But despite the beautiful and professional lettering, there was nothing attached to it. She concluded whomever bought the flower must have gotten someone to write the note for them. Whoever did this must have spent a pretty penny to put this whole thing together.

"To match the eyes…" her eyes were only purple in the Ghost Zone. Sine none of her human friends ever go in there with her, it must have been a ghost. She immediately thought of Johnny. She and 13 weren't exactly chummy. He would pick on the ghost girl like the kid whose new sibling had stolen all of mommy's attention form him. She definitely wouldn't put it past him to leave her a rose just to mess with her, especially when she had spent most of her free time in his realm complaining to Kitty about Owen's crush on her. But then again, he wouldn't go out of his way like this for a practical joke. And if Kitty caught her with a flower and a love note, he would've wished he were alive so she could just kill him again. But then if Johnny couldn't have done it, who did?

She was deep in thought, but not enough for her to not sense Richard coming her way.

"Hello Ophelia, what a beautiful flower you've got there."

Ophelia meekly smiled at him while she twirled the flower between her fingers.

"Yeah, somebody left it in my locker with a note."

"A note?" He said with curiosity, "Let me see."

She handed him the note. He took a quick glance over the note before he handed it back to her with a sly smile.

"It looks to me like you have got a suitor chasing after you."

"Pff, please, this is someone's idea of a joke I assure you. It's no one human since the note suggests that they would've seen y form in the Ghost Zone, and no human ever goes into the Ghost Zone. Too expensive a trip. So it must be a ghost with a bad sense of humor."

He lifted her chin to inspect her eyes.

"Why is it that you girls nowadays always have to be so insecure about yourselves? I believe that anyone could find you attractive. In fact, with eyes like yours, you truly could be the fairest of them all as your suitor says."

Ophelia blinked in disbelief. She blushed when she noticed how close his face was o hers when she said that.

"I-I better head to the cafeteria, you know, before they run out of the edible stuff."

She backed out of Richard's hand and walked off in the direction of the cafeteria.

Ophelia stashed the rose and note in an open pocket in her bag.

* * *

Over the next few days, the flowers kept coming in abundance. Soon, it was more than flowers being sent. Furs and jewels and perfumes with scents to rival that of the roses. They were always attached with purple roses with parchment scrolls filled with verses of love and adoration.

…_.Your smile makes my unbeating heart flutter…_

…_.Your laugh rings to mine ears sweeter than the chiming of bells…._

…_.I gasp for air as I crave the breath from your sweet lips…_

None were signed with a name and none left a single trace of psyche. All of them were addressed to her the same way:

_To the fairest of them all_

As sweet as it all was, Ophelia couldn't help but find the whole thing nauseating. It was overly romantic in both sense of the word, and the fact that she got flowers nearly twice a day was a little excessive.

"Why don't you take any of these flowers home?" asked Darcy as she, Abi, and Em stood by Ophelia's locker. "There doesn't seem to be much space left in your locker for them."

"I'd rather not have my parents know about the whole secret admirer thing. If you haven't noticed, they're a little over protective."

"A little?" Darcy scoffed, "Girl, you're parents smother you worse than a pillow. You're dad scared away the paper boy because he thought he looked at you funny."

"Exactly, how do you think he'll feel when he hears about the English garden in my locker and Coleridge's greatest hits to go with it? He'll put all of the male student body on the hot seat. I might as well toss these out before he finds out. "

"Wait!" Abi screeched out before Ophelia could move a muscle. She snatched up a ruby necklace and swung it in front of her. "Don't you want to keep some of this stuff? I mean, this is some really fancy stuff Phé. And you don't know, what if this secret admirer of yours isn't bad looking? How do you think he'll feel if he saw you toss out all these notes he toiled so hard on?"

"Or the jewels he spent a ton of cash on?" Ophelia said with a half smile.

Abi looked at her sheepishly, clutching the ruby tightly to her chest like a child would her favorite teddy bear. "Maybe"

Ophelia rolled her eyes with a full smile.

"Whoever sent me these notes certainly didn't toil over them. I can tell that he had someone write it for him."

Darcy inspected one of the notes.

"Yeah, you're right. They definitely were done by pen and ink, no question, but it looks too well done. Too perfect. If this was written by your Purple Paramour, there would've been a few flaws by the passion of his words, these letters were made with the passion of a robot."

Ophelia blinked at the deduction.

"Um, right, that's exactly what I was thinking… Wait, Purple Paramour? That's the name you're sticking with for this guy?"

Darcy shrugged.

"Would've gone for Prince Charming because of how all the notes call you the 'fairest of them all', but that seems too clichéd to me."

Ophelia groaned as she materialized a trashcan in front of her locker.

"You can call this guy the King of Sweden for all I care, but it won't help me find him and get him to cut it out."

"I agree with Phé on finding this guy," Em said as she helped Ophelia empty out her locker, "the first few notes were alright and all, but this is starting to hit borderline creepy."

"Do you have any ideas who this 'Purple Paramour' could be?" Abi asked as she tried on the necklace in front on her compact mirror, "do you expect anyone we know? Lab partners, someone from the boys track team…next door neighbors perhaps."

"Smooth," Ophelia glared at Abi with half open eyes as she held up a flat hand to cut across the air. "Maybe you should go over and ask Owen yourself."

"I'm not the one he's crushing on."

"Well as far as he knows, neither am I."

"Oh, really, so he asked you out in his sleep or something?"

Ophelia's cheeks darkened as she tried to stay visible.

"For the last time, Abi, it wasn't for a real date."

"And besides, this isn't Owen's style." Em interjected, inspecting the note she was about to throw away. "I sit next to him in English class and trust me, poetry is not his forte. And he's more of a 'paint a beautiful portrait out of memory' type, not a 'love letter in the locker' type."

"Is there anyone you suspect would send all these to you?" Darcy asked.

Ophelia giggled under her breath as she looked down the large pile of letters she had just cleaned from her locker.

"You know, Trix had this crazy theory that it was… nah, it's dumb."

All three looked her way curiously, the deviation in their smiles ranged from Em's peeked interest to Abi's absolute hunger for juicy gossip.

"Who, who does she think is the Paramour is?" Abi asked, almost bouncing with anticipation.

"Nah, you'll think it's dumb." Ophelia waved it off.

"We'll be the judges of that." Darcy said, "go on, tell us."

Ophelia shrugged.

"Alright, she thought it was that new boy, Richard Waltz. The one I'm tutoring?"

"Richard Waltz?" Em asked surprised.

"Yeah," for some reason, she couldn't explain without giggling. "I told her how he sometimes pretends to be hopelessly dumb just to hang out, and how I'm the only one he actually hangs out with after school. I think it's because he's shy and doesn't know how to make friends, but she thinks it's because he's got a crush on me."

When she finally got the giggles out of her system, she noticed Darcy, Em, and Abi exchange knowing looks that made her uneasy.

"What?" she demanded.

They didn't say anything, they just smiled at her mischievously. Ophelia groaned.

"Oh come on, not you too. It's _not _Richard, there's no way it could be Richard."

"Why not?" Darcy said, "Because he happens to be one of the cutest guys in school, or do you have an alibi for his every waking minute?"

"Please don't play Detective Adler right now, I'm serious. It can't be Richard, why would he send me anonymous love letters when he can just ask me out if he wanted to?"

"One reason could be that you turned down your best friend."

"Objection, inadmissible evidence."

"Fine, Councilor Fenton, retracted, another reason is that he's definitely a romantic type. I wouldn't put it past him to shower you with gifts and affection."

"Yeah, I can totally see it." Em grabbed one of the notes and pretended to pluck it from what appeared to be a tree.

"From the east to western Ind,

No jewel is like Rosalind."

"Okay, very funny, now give it back." Ophelia reached out to grab it, but Em stepped way at the last second. She continued her monologue. "Her worth, being mounted on the wind,

Through all the world bears Rosalind.

All the pictures fairest lined

Are but black to Rosalind.

Let no fair be kept in mind

But the fair of Rosalind."

Ophelia finally snatched the parchment from Em's hand and went over to the trashcan full of letters.

"Richard is not the Purple Paramour, because there _is _no Purple Paramour." She proclaimed as she tossed the paper into the bin. It's just someone taking a joke way too far. So can we please just drop it?"

All three girls raised their hands in surrender.

"Sure, sure, whatever." Darcy answered, "If you want to play pretend, go ahead."

Abi looked and Ophelia with the eyes of a puppy begging for affection. Ophelia rolled her eyes as she extended her arms towards the piles of clothes and jewels in her locker.

"Go ahead, they're all going into the bin anyway."

With a cheerful screech, Abi hugged the air out of Ophelia before picking through all the gifts in her locker. She looked over to Em and Darcy.

"You can get some stuff, too, if you want."

"Oh please," Darcy scoffed, "that stuff looks like something from a princess's yard sale."

Em looked at the gifts rather guiltily.

"What about you, Em? Don't you want any of this stuff?"

As soon as she said that, she saw the answer in her friend's psyche.

"I'm sorry, Phé, but you know how my mom is. She'll flip her wig if she hears that I've been hanging around with you, let alone accepting stuff from you. She'll think this stuff is cursed and I'll turn into a werewolf, or something."

Ophelia hung her head.

"Okay, I understand."

After a moment or two of awkward silence, the school bell interrupted.

"Better get to class." Darcy said as she walked off. Em followed as well as Abi as she tried to zip up her overstuffed backpack. Darcy looked back.

"You coming, Phé?"

"My class is close by, I'll just clean up the rest of this junk and then head off."

"Alright, see you at lunch."

They left Ophelia to clean up the rest of the chaos confined to her locker. After every non-school thing was in the trashcan, Ophelia couldn't help but look them over. Perhaps her friends are right; perhaps it wasn't a joke. What person, living or dead, would go to this extent just to mess with her? Then it came to Ophelia. Richard _is _the kind of romantic to do something like this, and this definitely wasn't anything a person from _this _time period would do. Maybe…

"What am I thinking?" Ophelia said aloud. "Couldn't be him…could it?"

She shook her head. She shot the trashcan with her ghost ray; all evidence of the Purple Paramour disappeared into green oblivion. After taking out the books she needed, Ophelia shut her clean locker and raced to her next class.

* * *

She went straight home after school. Coach Baxter wouldn't care less about his half ghost track co-captain and Richard…well, whatever silly problem he had could wait. She didn't want to deal with anything right now, she just wanted to go straight home and forget about this whole Purple Paramour drama.

She dropped by the photo store to pick up her negatives and CD scans. She didn't even bother to look at them when she slipped the CD into the Dodgeson's mail slot and walked over to her house. She went straight up the stairs and phased through the door (she wasn't in the mood to open doors). She buried her face into her pillow as she savored the moment of silence before it went away. Cujo, roused from his rest from the redistribution of weight on the bed, went to his mistress. His nose nudging at one of her arms in hopes of them lifting and rubbing his little head. When they did not, he pawed at them with a little yelp.

"Not now, Cujo, I'm not in a good mood."

Cujo whimpered and went back to nudge at her with his non-corporeal nose. Ophelia lifted her head enough for one of her green eyes to show. It looked at the ghost dog blankly before it hinted a smile. She raised her head from the pillow and, at last, petted the green puppy sweetly on his little head. He patted happily and leaped at his owner, showing her with slobbery wet kisses.

"Cujo, stop." She laughed, "It takes forever to scrub off your drool."

There came a knock on the door.

"Ophelia, honey, are you in there?" asked her mother's voice from the other side of the door.

"Yes, mom, come in." she replied as she tried to pry Cujo from her face.

The door opened halfway and Sam stuck her head. Ophelia could see enough of her mother's body positioning that she was holding something behind her back.

"You're home early," Sam said, "don't you have track practice?"

"I didn't feel like going," Ophelia replied honestly, "it's not like Baxter is going to care, anyway."

Sam shrugged.

"I know I should say that you shouldn't skip out on activities because you don't feel like it and it's your irresponsibility as co-captain, but I think you should deserve a day off once in a while."

"Thanks"

Sam smiled, but Ophelia could see a hint of playfulness behind it.

"Ophelia, honey, is there something you should tell me about?"

Ophelia's eyes dimmed in her confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"I came home earlier today and found something hanging in the front door."

"What was that?"

Sam stepped into Ophelia's room pulling out a dress from behind her back. It was a deep shade of violet that was almost magenta, with sleeves that fanned out and a skirt that fell to the floor (and with Ophelia's stature would trail behind her). I was made of pure silk, save for the Black lace that trimmed it and the white cotton crinoline that lined the inside of the skirt. The style of the dress placed it somewhere between the fifteenth and eighteenth century. Pinned to the dress, over the heart, was a purple rose wrapped in parchment paper. Ophelia felt a wave of anxiety as she knew what the note would say.

_To the fairest of them all…._

"Ophelia, is there something I should know about?" Sam sounded like she was trying to suppress a laugh.

Ophelia's widened before disappearing completely with the rest of her.

"Oh my gosh, this guy is insane!"

"What, guy, sweetie?"

"There's this joker who's been leaving me flowers and junk in my locker. I thought it was a bad joke so I ignored it, but this is getting ridiculous."

Sam released a small giggle.

"Aww, sweetie, you've got a secret admirer."

An exasperated groan was made as a pillow floated into the air and pulled back into the bed.

"And now this guy is leaving his token of affections out for the whole world to see. This is so humiliating."

Sam sat on the bed by the floating pillow and placed her hand over the dent in the pillow in the shaped of a human head. When she felt her daughter's hair, she stroked it tenderly.

"Well, this guy sounds like he's really into you. I mean, you'd have to be pretty dumbstruck with love to even think of coming to our front door."

Ophelia groaned.

"What am I suppose to do, Mom? He won't leave me alooooone!"

"Do you even know who this person is?"

"No, or else I would have punched their lights out a week ago."

"Well, do you have any ideas?"

Ophelia became visible again and sat up. She pulled a pillow from behind her and clutched it tightly in her arms and legs.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear it from the Moms of Amity Park Newsletter." She said with a hint of a smile. "_I _might not have any ideas, but my friends have a notion of their own."

"Maybe you should ask this guy, he could be your admirer. I know these kinds of people: they write you these letters because they are too shy to talk to you in person. They want you to make the first move, since they can't do it themselves. If you call them on it, they'll fess up to being the admirer."

Ophelia stared down at the floor.

"I guess you're right."

Sam kissed Ophelia on the head and headed out the room.

"Trust me, baby, this is the only way to make the letters go away." Then she stopped at the door. "Unless of course, you say yes to that date with Owen."

Ophelia perked her head up with bright red cheeks.

"Mom!"

* * *

The next day, Ophelia stood around the corner at Richard's locker. When he arrived at the locker, she mustered up all her courage and approached him. Strange, she thought, her mother's idea of confronting him didn't seem as good as it did yesterday.

"Hey Richard?"

Richard looked over the locker door. He smiled when he saw who called him and shut the locker door.

"Hello Ophelia, how may I help you?"

On second thought, her mother's idea sucks.

"Did you…do you like me?"

Richard raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know, do you…like, like me? I mean are you crushing on me?"

"Are you asking me if I fancy you?"

Ophelia sighed, releasing some of her tension.

"Yes" she said with a slight groan.

"Then yes, I fancy you quite a lot."

"Really?"

"I left a few hints here or there, but I didn't think you've noticed."

Ophelia had an exasperated look.

"Really, you didn't think I'd notice… are you for real?"

"I'm ethereal, if that counts for anything."

Ophelia face palmed.

"Okay, how about this? There's a dance coming up here at the school. Why don't we go together, see how it goes, and you never pull this kind of stuff again? That sound good?"

Richard's smile widened.

"That sounds like what you call a date?"

"I wouldn't call it a 'date' date, it's more like a 'get off my back' date. So, we've got a deal?"

Richard took her hand and looked at it.

"This century is quite a strange one." He mused as he rubbed his thumb over her slender, almost boney fingers. "Back in my day, the men would do the courting and proposals and await for the woman's response." He brought the hand to his lips. "But yes, it's a deal. Or rather, it's a date." He kissed her hand.

Ophelia blushed as she pulled her hand away.

"Okay, good, you're happy and I'm happy. No more of these little games, no more flirting, no more love notes in the locker. Good, so we'll discuss this more at lunch okay? Later, bye."

With that, Ophelia rushed off to her next class, leaving Richard to stand there and stare at the empty space by his locker.

Ophelia saw Abi, Darcy and Em at their lockers.

"You were right, Richard likes me, gotta get to class, rub it in later." She announced as she passed by.

Without looking away from her locker, Darcy stuck out her hand to Abi and Em.

"Pay up."

* * *

Owen was the only one in the art studio that afternoon. He would've gone home to do his artwork, but his mother had a strict rule against painting at home. It wasn't his fault that Millie had gotten into his paint set, but his mother blamed his anyway when the little monster covered the whole living room hall in paint (the very expensive acrylics he had saved up for a month to buy).

He liked the pictures Ophelia left in his mailbox, and had spent the whole night sketching. Now, he was painting in one of his sketches of the castle garden. He had just finished the ivy when Wal came in rather anxiously.

"Dude! Did you hear?"

"About what?" Owen asked, his eyes fixed on the canvas.

"That Waltz kid, he's going to the dance with Ophelia!"

Owen's hand slipped, leaving a huge streak of green paint across the canvas. He cursed when he noticed what he did.

"Great, now I have to wait until it dries to paint it over."

"Hey, Claude Monet, did you not just hear what I said? Ophelia's going out with _Waltz_!"

Owen looked away as he took all his brushes to the sink to wash.

"So what, our friend's going out on a date? Lots of friends go on dates, what's the big deal?"

"It's always a big deal when your friend is going out on a date after rejecting another friends offer."

"It was a _friend _date."

"A friend date that she said no to."

"Whatever, so she said yes to a date with the new kid. She probably did that just to be nice, you know how she rolls."

"You don't get it. Waltz didn't ask Ophelia out, _Ophelia _asked _Waltz _out."

He was quiet for a while, though he didn't really notice how long that while was. After what felt like only a second to him he smiled.

"Like I said, what's the big deal? She asked the new kid out, girls ask guys out all the time. That's the twenty first century in action. If she's happy with this guy, then I'm happy for them both."

Maybe if he said that to himself enough times, it would actually be true.


	12. Rarest of Them All (Part 2)

Ophelia came home late that night. She went with her friends to the mall after Track practice to find a dress for the dance. She would've gone in the dress Richard had given her, but that felt too weird for her to wear on their first (and hopefully only) date. She was about to open the door before she made an insightful headcount.

_Daddy's home, crud!_

Maybe if she could sneak around to her room and put the dress away and then sneak back to the front door, he'd never know. She turned herself invisible and flew through the door and straight up the stairs to her room. Once she thought she was safe, she pulled the dress from her shopping bag and went to her wardrobe to hang it up.

"What, not going to say hello to your dad after a week in orbit?"

Ophelia let out a shriek and jumped into the air in her surprise. She saw her father standing in the doorway, giving her the all-knowing parental smirk.

"Seriously, honey, I've been sneaking in and out of bedrooms a lot longer than you have."

Ophelia made a mocking gag noise.

"Gross! Rather not hear about you and Mom's love life, thank you very much."

Danny rolled his eyes. He walked over and grabbed the dress from the wardrobe to look at it.

"What a pretty dress, Ophelia, I bet it goes well with your complexion. I don't see why you have to go sneaking through the house to hide it from me."

He paused for a moment in mock thought before pretending to have one come to him.

"Oh, wait a moment, isn't the Casper High Fall Formal this Saturday? What a strange coincidence that you bought a perfect dress for a dance just in time for the Formal."

Ophelia started to lose her opacity while trying to find the words to best help her in this situation.

"It's not really mine. You see, Abi kind of broke the bank on this dress and she's planning on wearing to the school's dance this weekend. – Is that a new shirt, it looks really nice- Anyway, she wanted me to hold onto it for her so her parents wouldn't wig out. I said no, because I knew you'd think it was _my _dress and that _I _was going to the dance, which I'm not by the way, and I couldn't exactly say I'm holding it for a friend, I mean, it's the oldest excuse in the book. But she was begging me with that puppy-dog face of hers and so I caved. And that's why I'm sneaking around hiding dresses, _not _because I'm going to the dance with anyone."

Ophelia flashed a nervous smile between her winded breaths. Danny just smiled and shook his head.

"You're mother already told me about you're secret admirer. I'm guessing the talk went well a little more than expected?"

Ophelia smile went away.

"Just for the record: would you have bought my story if she didn't tell you?"

"Not in you're life, kiddo."

She let out a half sigh, half groan and pouted in defeat. She needs to work on her lying skills.

"So, who's this date you don't want me to hear about?"

"Waltz." She mumbled.

"The ghost that visited you at the hospital?"

Ophelia nodded reluctantly.

"Hm, didn't peg him as the poetic type." Danny said with a shrug.

"Yeah, well neither did I. Turns out he's both a poet _and _a tremendous flirt."

Danny's expression changed, becoming more defensive than humorous. Ophelia blinked when she realized her mistake too little too late.

"Um, well, not really, he was actually a little more obtuse than flirtatious. I mean-"

Danny held up a hand to cut her off.

"Save it, Phé. You know I'll have to talk to him anyway."

"And by talk you mean threaten to beat him within an inch of his afterlife?"

"More like show him the surface of the sun."

"_Dad, _it's not even a real date. I set it up so he could leave me alone."

"A 'get off my back' date? Ophelia, you know boys are like cats. You give them a little treat and they'll keep coming back for more."

"He promised-"

"Thinking you'll like him and change you're mind. Just let me talk to him before you go out with him and I'll make sure he'll never bother you again."

Ophelia groaned, her defeated pout turning into an irritated on instead.

"Fine," she groaned. "Go talk to him. Better yet, talk to every boy I have any contact with so I'll be sure to die a virgin."

Danny smiled as he gave her a hug.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, you won't die a virgin. I'll let you marry when you're old enough, let's say fifty?"

"Twenty-one, that's how old you and mom were when you got married."

He pulled away to look at Ophelia.

"Who told you that?"

"The date on the back of your wedding photo. Honestly, dad, I can read. And I can do simple arithmetic."

"Thirty-four, and that's my final offer."

Ophelia smiled as she jumped up to hug him and kiss him on the cheek.

"Deal"

"Good, dinner's in an hour. I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight while you're mother eats dirt."

"Top soil soy melt."

"Still dirt to me."

Ophelia smiled, She waited until Danny left the room and closed the door to say: "and I'll be happy to date whomever I please until then."

She shut the door of her wardrobe when something nudged at her leg. It was Cujo, holding a small wooden box in his mouth.

"Hey puppy, what've you got there?" Ophelia said as she plucked the box from his mouth. Cujo let out a whimper and nudged her again, as if trying to warn her about the box.

"Cool your jets, Cujo," she assured the dog "it's just a box."

Ophelia inspected the box. It's was made of a dark lacquered wood, decorated with intricate carvings of medieval dragons breathing fire. Rubies were embedded into the dragons eyes and silver claws acted as the clasp holding the box closed.

"Okay, it's a very expensive looking box, but it's a box nonetheless."

She opened the box to find it filled with purple rose petals. She rolled her eyes and scoffed disgustedly.

"Ugh, Richard, I thought I said enough of this. Alright, where's the stupid note this time." She picked through the petals until she found a corner of the parchment at the bottom of the box.

"There you are, you stupid little thing."

She pulled out the parchment by that corner. The petals spilled out onto the floor, along with something else that made a slang tinkling sound as it hit the floor. Ophelia processed the sound once she pulled the whole parchment out of the box. It sounded like it was made of metal. She bent down with the paper and box in one hand and groped the floor for the object for the other. She found the object shining from under a pile of petals. It was a ring, a gold ring embedded with emeralds. At the sight of the ring, the emeralds of her eyes dimmed to a diamond white. She was white as a sheet.

Everything in her hands dropped onto the ground. She backed away from the ring like it carried the Plague.

"What on earth was that!"

The parchment caught her attention again and she went over to pick it up. She read it.

_Lips as red as blood,_

_Hair as black as night,_

_Eyes greener than the Spring,_

_And flesh of pure snow white._

_I give you a ring of gold_

_So you can give me your delicate hand_

_Make me be your prince_

_And you shall have all that I command_

_I have given you flowers, given you jewels_

_Beauties so thine beauty can be in my thrall_

_Be my bride, and I shall have_

_The fairest of them all._

"I'm guessing he's not going to wait sixteen years." She mused to herself in a distant voice.

Her hands were shaking; she could barely read the end of the letter. Cujo nudged her knee, for somehow she sunk to the floor, and whimpered at her visible distress. Ophelia blinked the green back into her eyes and the pink back into her cheeks. She went from shocked to angry in barely a second as her eyes burned a violent green. The hand holding the letter glowed the same green and the paper caught in fire. The parchment turned to ash before her eyes.

* * *

"_Richard!_ You whack-job!"

Richard was startled at the harsh voice from across the hall, and directed at him. He turned to find Ophelia standing right next to him, having flown straight through twenty feet of human traffic. Her eyes were ablaze in a rage he had somehow caused.

"Hello, Ophelia." He said, finding no better words to say at that moment.

"What is wrong with you, I thought we had a deal. I would go out on a date and you would stop with your insane courtship rituals."

"Excuse me?"

"You know _exactly _what I'm talking about, you creep! In what world would I say yes to something like that?"

"Um…"

"I'm fourteen! No one ever agrees to that at my age unless they're already pregnant, and that would already be an indicator of poor mental health."

"Pregnant?"

"You've gone too far this time, Waltz. The date is off, I'll be happy if I never see your arrogant face ever again you nutcase!"

Before he could say anything, she disappeared into the air. He watched the empty space for a moment before noticed the group of people giving him uncomfortable glares in his direction.

* * *

"I thought you said she _wasn't_ going to the dance."

Danny and Sam were in the kitchen, drinking coffee and waiting for Ophelia to come down the stairs to leave for the dance.

"She's not going to the dance _with Richard_, sweetie." Sam said as she stirred in some cream into her coffee. "She's still going, just with her friends."

"Not that I'm complaining here, in fact I'm overjoyed, but why did she decide to break off her date with that ghost kid?"

"She didn't say."

Danny had a knowing smile as he put the mug to his lips.

"Mmhmm, I thought so." He took a sip of his coffee before continuing. "He must've asked too much from her and freaked her out. I warned her."

Sam sighed and put down her mug before she could drink from it.

"You didn't give the 'boys are like cats' speech, did you? I hate that speech."

Danny shrugged.

"My dad used it on Jazz and nothing bad happened."

"That's because she's Jazz. He could've forgotten to tell her to stay away from fire and she still would stay away from ovens."

"Well, it looked like speech worked on her just the same."

"All I know is that if my dad gave me that speech, we would've had Ophelia a lot earlier on."

"EW! Can't I walk into one room without hearing something that will scar me for life?"

At the doorway stood Ophelia, her ears covered to protect her from anything else she would've rather not known. She wore a red dress with black trimmings and long sleeves that stopped just at the knobby bones of her wrists. The skirt fell to her knees at the front but split and trailed behind her. Underneath she wore solid black tights and a pair of lace up boots with a dangerous set of four-inch heels. Any sense of the words "neat" and "clean" completely void in the arrangement of her hair as it spilled out in every direction from where it us tied up behind her head. A subtle shade of burgundy colored her lips and a dark grey around her eyes.

Sam smiled and walked over to Ophelia.

"Oh, baby, you look gorgeous."

"She's not wearing that." Danny said curtly.

Ophelia groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Aw, come on Dad. My skirt is at an appropriate length, _and _my legs are covered." She pulled up her skirt and stuck out her leg for emphasis.

"Your whole back is exposed, I'm not letting my daughter go out and let every boy in her school know she doesn't wear bras."

Ophelia's eyes flashed a pale green before disappearing completely.

"I can't believe you just said 'bra'"

"I can't believe you're wearing _that_, so we're about even. Didn't you have a purple dress somewhere?"

Ophelia made herself visible.

"What dress?"

"The other dress you were hiding from me, I saw it in your wardrobe when we talked the other day. The old timey one with the long skirt and the covered back."

Ophelia and Sam exchanged looks.

"Oh, Danny, _that _dress?" Sam said with a dismissive hand gesture and a laugh. "That was just something my mother sent over for her. You don't seriously want her to wear _that_, do you?"

"And besides, I can't find it anywhere. Cujo must've got a hold of it."

"Sure he did." Danny said with a knowing grin. "But I'm serious, you either cover up or go through the whole dance invisible."

Ophelia groaned in defeat.

"Fine, I'll go get a coat or something." She grumbled.

She stomped up the stairs with her mother following after.

"Thanks for the save, Mom." She whispered to Sam.

"No worries, hun. So where'd you put that dress? I think with a little reconstruction it might be decent for the Spring Fling."

Ophelia stopped halfway up the stairs and raised a curious eyebrow.

"I really don't know where it went, I thought you took it."

"I guess Cujo really did take the dress." Sam concluded.

Ophelia shrugged, "Maybe" _and maybe that's where the box went too._

* * *

Ophelia went to the dance, in a group, with her living girlfriends and Trix. When they arrived, there was already a good amount of people there.

"Hey, weren't there supposed to be chaperones for this thing?" Abi asked.

"Cool, this dance is so awesome that the chaperones disappeared." Darcy said excitedly.

"No, they're still here." Ophelia replied, "The parents are a couple of wallflowers so they're not going to be any problem, but Baxter's the teacher chaperone. Just don't say his name three times and we'll be fine."

Trix raised an eyebrow and leaned towards Ophelia.

"How did you know that?"

Ophelia's wide eyes flashed.

"I-um…..have good eyes." She said quickly. Trix cocked her head to the side. Before she could press further, Ophelia interjected.

"Hey, look, there are the guys."

She pointed to the opposite side of the gym where Wal, Mick, and Owen stood by the concessions table.

"Why don't we go say hi?" She picked up her skirt and rushed off to the boys before awaiting an answer from the girls. Right when she reached the center of the crowd, her head spun and slowed down. Standing in the middle of a crowded room, the psyches of every person rushed to her like a bitter winter wind. It overwhelmed her senses worse than the blaring music and the blinding lights around her. She shut her eyes and shot her hands to her head.

_It's okay, Phé, _She thought to herself,_ You've been through this before, just shut it down._

She took a deep breath. And then, she tuned out all the psyches in the room, slowly shutting off her insight and thus her ability to see them all. A wave of relief rushed over her after the ordeal was over.

Ophelia felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find the hand belonging to Owen. He looked at her with concern.

"Hey Phé," he greeted, "Are you alright? You look like you're about to pass out."

Ophelia pulled her hands from her forehead and gave him a weak smile.

"I'm fine," she said, "I guess the music must be a little too loud. I have a bit of a migrane since this morning."

Owen knitted his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Ghosts get migraines?" he asked.

"I don't know about ghosts, but _half_ ghosts certainly do." Ophelia said with a little ice in her voice.

"Uh yeah, right sorry – Hey, I love your dress."

"Thanks, the girls helped me pick it out."

"I can tell Abi didn't pick it, it's not pink enough."

Ophelia giggled.

"And how about you, you look nice. Though you're suit look's like it was designed by Jackson Pollock."

Owen looked down at his suit. He seemed to have just noticed the splatters of paint here and there on what was a nice plain black suit.

"Oh yeah, I came here earlier to work on my paintings… wait, you haven't seen them yet, have you?"

"Your paintings?"

"Yeah, I did some based off the photos you gave me."

"Oh yeah, the photos. Out of all this craziness, I must've forgotten."

"Come on, I just finished this painting that you might like."

Owen grabbed her wrist and led her out of the gym. The sound of their footfalls echoed down the halls, half-lit and empty as opposed to the brightness and congestion of bodies they were accustomed to. Finally, they reached the art room.

Owen placed Ophelia in the middle of the classroom.

"Okay, stand right here. Don't move a muscle until I turn on the lights."

Ophelia's eyes twinkled curiously, them and her ethereal glow being the only light in the dark art studio. Owen rushed to the light switch with ease and flipped it on. With the lights now on, Ophelia could see that she was standing in a ring of Owen's paintings. Ophelia's lips parted slightly in silent awe.

"Owen, these are beautiful." She said ecstatically, "It's like I'm looking into a window to some kind of storybook world."

Owen bashfully rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.

"Thanks, but you should really give credit to your photos. They were perfect references."

"Oh please, those were amateur shots. It reflects your talent even more that you managed to make anything decent with those as a reference…"

She stopped her train of thought when she saw on particular painting. It depicted a large parchment of paper spread across a desk. With a quill and ink, flowers bloomed from a drawn out shrub. The flowers were purple roses.

Her eyes narrowed and shot an annoyed glare at Owen's direction.

"Oh ha, ha, very funny." She said sarcastically.

"What?"

"Abi or someone must've told you about my whole secret admirer thing and you painted this as a joke."

"What secret admirer?"

"The one who sent me purple roses and cheesy love poems. It's cute, nice to know you've got a sense of humor about these kind of things."

Owen's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  
"I don't have a single clue what you're talking about, I just got the purple roses from the photo you gave me."

Ophelia's eyes flashed.

"What photo?"

Owen went over to a table by one of the other paintings and took a stack of photographs. He rifled through them while he made his way back to her.

"The one you took of that garden from a window. I was going to do a landscape, but I couldn't quite do much with the angle… Ah, here it is."

He handed her the photograph to look at. Lo and behold, there was a garden from what appeared to be a second story window. Most of the plants were out of focused or generally washed out from the bright light of the outside, leaving the purple roses clinging to the walls below in full view. The same kind of roses that were stuffed into her locker and whose petals filled the box that held the dreaded ring.

"W-what?" she murmured to herself, "This makes no sense, these can't be my flowers? Why would Dora want to send me flowers?"

Her memory took her back to Dora's palace, down in the dungeons. The guards lying on the ground with the cell door busted open.

_The Prince has escaped…._

A cold chill went over her body. It wasn't until she saw the blue wisp escape from her mouth that she realized it was her ghost sense and snapped herself out of her trance. Owen eyebrows knitted together as he pointed at Ophelia's mouth.

"Your ghost sense went off." He stated.

"Please just be Poindexter, please just be Poindexter," she said to no one in particular.

Just then, screams of panic trickled into the room. It seemed to have come from the gym.

"That doesn't sound like Poindexter."

Ophelia slouched her shoulder as she hung her head.

"It's never Poindexter." She said bitterly.

* * *

At the dance, everything went just fine. The music blared loudly as everyone dance to the earth-shattering beat. Those who weren't were chattering in close proximity to the food or delving into the food themselves. The chaperones did appear one in a while to calm a ruckus and make sure the dances were as chaste as any could be with adolescents, Coach Baxter being the most frequent. All went perfectly well before the ghosts came.

A spray of arrows shot straight into every speaker set in the gym, killing the music with the machinery. A good amount of the kids screamed at the sudden explosion and huddled closely towards the center of the floor away from the showers of sparks. The culprit, a hooded archer, floated by the door with his bow loaded and himself poised for the next shot. The door flung open by the meaty hands of a ghost wearing the garb of an executioner. His skull-faced mask showed no emotion, but the axe propped on his shoulder held more menace than any expression could. The executioner ghost cleared the way for another ghost to appear. Unlike his friends, this one had no muscle tone whatsoever. All the bony angles of his face and body made him look like a skeleton with leathery blue skin stretched over it. His purple tunic and grey stockings may have fitted well on him, his black and purple cape, fastened by a green skull, draped on him like a heavy curtain and emphasized his long and lanky figure. Hey grey hair drooped from his spiky green crown and sat at his shoulders. His eyes, the blood red eyes of a dangerous reptile, looked upon the living with contempt as a face unfamiliar to a smile gave a sullen scowl. Around his neck was an amulet with an emerald in shape of a reptilian eye. All the appearance of a prince with the arrogant air to match.

As the prince entered, the archer and the executioner cleared his away by scaring the living to the sides of the gym. After a few moments of scanning the crowd in dreadful silence, he spoke.

"I am in search of a girl that is somewhere here tonight. She is a halfbreed, the first of her kind and therefore the most rare of breeds. I know she is here, all I ask of you…commoners… is where is she hiding."

Hushed whispers rippled across the crowd. They all know whom the ghost was asking for, and most were creatively filling in the gaps why he was asking for her. Coach Baxter stepped forward and glared at the prince as if he was one of his troublesome students.

"Listen here, your highness." He said in a harsh and mocking tone, "I don't know what you want with Fenton, and frankly I don't care, but you don't go barging into _my _gym and terrorize _my _students. So I suggest you take your spooky friends and shove off back into the Ghost Zone before I have to throw you in myself."

The executioner ghost floated up to Baxter and slammed the axe right at his feet. Baxter screamed, completely losing both his macho act and all the respect he scared into his students in on fell swoop. The prince expression did not change.

"I shall ask again," he said with a more threatening tone, "Where is the half ghost?"

"Who are you?" asked a voice from the other side of the gym. The crowd parted to reveal Ophelia Fenton as the owner of the voice. "And more importantly what do you want with me?"

The prince ghost smiled unkindly.

"Ah, there you are, my dear." He lifted his long, bony hand and gesture for her to come to him, "Come, come, we have a lot of planning to do."

Ophelia did not take a single step closer to him; instead she took a step backwards.

"Planning for what?" she asked.

"Why, for our wedding of course. Don't tell me you have forgotten."

Ophelia's eyes flashed angrily.

"I've forgotten nothing, I'm not marrying anyone."

His face hardened, his smile was gone. He looked like he was somehow going to hit her from all the way across the room.

"Is all of your kind so dull?" he said. "I _gave _you a ring, did I not? And I had one of my servants write you all those notes. I'm sure you haven't forgotten all the flowers and jewels I have given you."

Somewhere in the crowd, Abi, Em, and Darcy were exchanging looks. Abi and Em were elbowing Darcy and sticking their hands out, silently demanding their money back. Darcy lifted her arms and shrugged.

"Hey," she whispered, "we didn't say anything about an unknown variable."

Ophelia held her gaze as she crossed her arms.

"So that _was _you, I wasn't so sure since you didn't even bother signing any of those letters. I did not agree to your proposal, and so I am _not_ marrying you."

Too little, too late, she noticed that the other two weren't at his side. The ghosts flanked her and grabbed her arms. She struggled as they dragged her through the crowd towards their prince.

"Marriage is not a choice _you _can make, it is not something _you_ agree to. _I_ pick who I want to wed and she becomes my bride."

They dragged Ophelia so close that her face was inches apart from his.

"I pick my bride by rarity, I want that which no ghost has ever possessed. And you, my dear," His hand went under her chin and moved her face side to side as if to inspect her. "You are quite the rarity indeed."

Ophelia tucked her chin under his hand and bit him. He shrunk his hand back and the ghosts that held her pulled her away. With a lot of effort, she pulled at her arms until she had her hand pointed at the ghosts. She shot them both with ghost rays until they let her go. With another set of shots, she knocked the ghost to the walls.

"Let me say this again, so you can get it through your thick head." She said to the slender ghost. "I'm. Not. Marrying. Anyone!"

He was still cringing at the bite while she spoke. Ophelia noticed that his amulet was starting to glow. She was confused until the hand turned black and the skin turned into scales. The hands became claws along with his feet. His arms and legs stretched out to large and muscular limbs and his neck became long and serpentine. Green horns sprouted from his head followed by the green barbs on his newly grown tail.

Ophelia knew what this thing was before the transformation was even complete. When she came out of her horror-induced paralysis, she turned back to her classmates.

"Run, idiots!" she shouted. They complied by filing out rushing out of the only exit not blocked by ghosts in a screaming panic. They made it out just in time, for when last of the students were safely out of the gym the ghost had completed his transformation.

Before Ophelia was the very same dragon she encountered in Dorathea's castle. He barely fit the gym even with his wings tucked in. He large claws bored holes into the gym floor, of which Ophelia had a sinking feeling that Baxter was going to blame her for.

Ophelia backed away from the dragon with her hands glowing as a warning. The dragon lowered his head to her eye level.

"No one keeps Prince Aragon away from his bride," he boomed at her, "especially not Aragon's bride."

She shot a ghost-ray at Aragon's nose, causing him to bellow and pull his face away.

"Aragon, nice name," Ophelia mused, "It's always nice to finally have something to put a face to. You know, before I beat it into a new shape."

Ophelia flew up to him with glowing fists. Right when she was going to swing a punch at him, something hit her from the side. Hard. She crashed landed on the ground; before she could even sit up, she was pinned to the ground by a net.

"No fair, that was a cheap shot!" She screeched.

"We have to time for this." Bellowed the beast, "Give her the ring and get us back to the castle. We have to prepare her for her special day."

The executioner took out a box, the wooden box Ophelia lost. He opened it to show the ring inside, now sitting on a velvet cushion. The archer took the ring from the box with one hand and fished Ophelia's hand from the net with the other. Ophelia tried to pull her hand out of the ghosts grasp to no avail. The archer slipped the ring on her and it started to glow. The glow turned into a bright flash of light that encased the dragon, the executioner, the archer, and lastly Ophelia. When the flash was gone, so were they.

* * *

"Get off me!"

A flock of handmaidens were trying to change her out of her dress and snap every one of her ribs with a corset.

"I said get off of me!"

She pushed them aside and raced for the door. Once she opened the door she found Aragon on the other side. He face got dangerously dark at the sight of her and glared at the handmaidens. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around towards the maids.

"How could you wenches almost let her walk around the castle like this?" He gave Ophelia a harsh shove and she stumbled back to the swarm of ghost women. "Protect her modesty and have her ready for the feast tonight."

A maid slipped a robe over Ophelia before she could wrench herself from her grasp.

"I can dress myself, you know." She growled.

"A princess should not have to dress herself like a commoner."

"_I am not a princess!_" she screeched.

"Not yet, no." He said dryly, "but once you are properly attired, and taught a little civility, you shall be a princess worthy of Aragon."

"Stop talking about yourself in the third person, it's very annoying."

There was a look in his eye that made Ophelia imagine the dragon form she had seen him in earlier. The handmaids, apparently having seen that look long enough to know what it meant, backed away from the two and cowered in the corner. Aragon grabbed Ophelia forcefully by her wrist and wretched it towards him.

"A bride does _not _give her prince commands." He hissed at her.

Her eyes blazed a brilliant violent as she glared at him unflinching.

"I am not your bride, and _you_ are not my prince." She said.

She pried her wrist from his hand and took a few steps away. She raised her newly freed hand to fire a ghost ray at the Prince. None came. She looked at her hand bewildered. She tried again to fire one, with no success. She glared back at Aragon with newfound vehemence.

"What did you do to my powers?" She demanded.

The deathly look in his eye was gone. He smiled a self-satisfied smile that made Ophelia want to hit him.

"A princess shouldn't have something as _unladylike _as ghost powers. She leaves the fighting for her prince and his knights." He took her hand and showed her the ring on her finger. "_This _makes sure you aren't tempted to use such _ugly_ abilities as a ghost ray, or intangibility. With this ring, you cannot go anywhere, do anything unless I wish it."

He let go of her hand. She held it with the other hand and inspected the ring.  
"You really think you're clever, don't you?" she scoffed, "Please, I've had inhibitors latched on me since I was five, and they weren't as gaudy as this thing either."

"You shall learn to love it, you'll be wearing it for eternity after all. ''Til death do we reunite, _if _you can die."

"You'll have to rip out my heart and my brain before I would even consider marrying you."

He smiled amusedly.

"I should've have known, you're just like your mother. Dinner's in an hour, hopefully by then you will be properly dressed."

His cape swished when he turned to leave the room. Ophelia followed him a couple steps.

"Wait, how do you know my mother?"

He did not answer her question, instead he said: "And don't even try to get that ring off, only I can remove it."

With that, he shut the door behind him. Ophelia just stared distantly, a million thoughts whizzing by.

_Who is this guy? How would he know my mother? Where's Dora? How am I getting out of this?..._

In this dream-like state of thought, the maids got her into the dress without a fight. If Ophelia had paid attention, she would've noticed it was the same dress that was given to her at her house. The one she thought she had lost.

When they were finished working on her hair, another ghost came in. Ophelia did a double take at the sight of her. It took her a while to recognize the Dragon Ghost, having only seen her for a brief moment once before. Even then, Dora looked completely different than she had before. Her hair was braided rather than piled up, and a simple band was set on top instead of a crown. She fine silks and ermine had been replaced with the dull blue frock of a servant. Ophelia didn't know why it was important, but she also noticed that the amulet the girl had once worn, identical to the one the Prince wears, was missing as well.

"Dora?" Ophelia said, surprised to see her.

Dora ignored her and instead turned to the handmaids.

"The Prince has sent me to see how his bride was doing." She told them, "He would've come himself, but he assumed that he would find her sitting around naked from how poorly you seemed to have handled her."

"Not to worry, milady," one of the handmaids spoke, "she has been a quiet little angel. No fuss from her at all. We were just about to add a little cosmetic to her pretty little face when you came in."

Dora looked over to Ophelia.

"Stand up, Ophelia, let me see you."

Ophelia didn't realize that she was sitting at a vanity table until Dora told her. She got up from her seat and walked over to her, trying not to trip over the long skirt or horribly uncomfortable shoes they had put on her.

"Look at her, she can barely walk." She scolded, "That skirt needs to be cut down and she needs to be fitted for slippers she can actually _walk _in. Here, let me take care of it. You are all dismissed."

The maids gave an obedient bow before filing out of the room, leaving Dora alone with the half ghost. When the last of them left and the door was shut, Ophelia spoke.

"What are you doing here, Dora?" she asked in an exasperated speed, "Why are you working for a jerk like Aragon? Why's a jerk like him the Prince? How does he know my mother? Please explain!"

"Not now, we need to get you ready or my brother will-"

"Your _brother_? Prince Aragon's _your brother_! Oh my gosh, you poor thing. That sucks!"

"Don't call me a poor thing, you're the one who's marrying him." Dora said as she took a pair of sheers from a sowing basket. She pulled a small stool from under the bed and set it front of Ophelia. "Step on this, please."

She took Ophelia's hand and pulled her up to the stool. Ophelia wobbled as she tried to find her balance on such a small surface with such horrible shoes. Dora groaned.

"Take those things off. I can't have you tripping all over the place."

Ophelia pouted as she bent over to untie her bootlaces and pull them both off. She held them out in her hands and dumped them on the floor in front of her.

"Well, Aragon being your brother answers three of my questions. What about the fourth? How does he know my mother? How do _you _know my mother?"

Dora went over to a wardrobe and took something Ophelia couldn't see.

"What part of 'not now' do you not seem to understand? I have no time to explain anything. Here, put these on."

Dora handed Ophelia a pair of shoes.

"Glass slippers" Ophelia stated as she inspected them. "How quaint."

Without warning, without flinching, she threw the slippers out the window behind her.

"Make time to answer my questions, or I'll waste yours."

* * *

The dining hall was filled with the castle's nobility and their entertainment, none of who wanted to be there. The table was prepared and piled high with some of the most luxurious foods in the afterlife, which, for a party of beings that lost the necessity to eat centuries ago, served as nothing more than a decoration for the table and something to toy with on their plates. There was no rhyme or reason for anything in this scene other than it was the Prince's wishes. The half-bored, half-scared eyes of the party lead to the solemn and brooding eyes of their Prince. He had an amused smile on his face that seemed completely displaced with such serious and skeletal features.

The monotony was broken when Aragon arose from his seat. He brought up his glass and knife and clinked his glass to get the room's attention, as if they weren't just sitting there waiting for the next command.

"My loyal subjects," He announced, "I have brought you here tonight for a very special occasion. I am to be married, and tonight I wish to introduce my kingdom to its new queen. Bring forth my bride."

The guards that stood vigil at the door opened them. Out of the doors came Dorothea, dragging the unfortunate bride to be by the wrist. Ophelia tried both to get out of Dora's grasp and keep herself from tripping over every other step.  
"No," Ophelia shouted to the ghost, "Let me go! I don't want to have dinner with him!"

"No one wants to have dinner with him," Dora grunted as she fought the half-ghost to move. "But it is what the Prince wants and so we do it."  
"Stuff the Prince! He's a stalker creep. I'd rather spend the rest of my long life eating dirt than anything else with him."

"Tough"

"Ah, there we are." said Aragon at the sight of his captive. He looked over to Dora and commanded: "Bring the half-breed over here beside me, I won't to make sure you haven't made mistakes with this one."  
_"the half-breed", "this one" _Ophelia repeated in her mind with disgust as Dora walked her over to the other side of the table with Aragon. He walked around her and inspected every inch of her. She felt like a dog at a show, the judge checking to see whether or not it is worth a ribbon.

"Excellent work, Dorothea," he praised in monotone. He held her head with both his hands, positioning them far away from her teeth. "No ink on the face, minimal amount of cosmetic." One of his hands fingered through her hair, tied up and held in place by a silver diadem with a few tendrils tastefully hanging here and there. "Hair's not all over the place. And more importantly, no metal to be seen. Job well done, sister, perhaps you aren't so useless after all."

Ophelia was growling lowly the whole time, her eyes bright as hazard lights. She was not a big fan of people touching her in the first place, but to be completely manhandled like some kind of doll was way past her comfort zone.  
"Get off me, creep!" She said as she pushed him off. Aragon caught himself from falling by the end of the table and the back of his chair. He bared his teeth angrily; his eyes flashed something heinous.

"I see her _behavior _is still in need of improvement." He growled to Dora, not even acknowledging that Ophelia as a being worthy of communication.

"I have a name, you know," Ophelia dejected with crossed arms. "It would be nice of you to use it."

He looked over to her and walked back over to her. He was so close to her face she had a hard time keep him within her eyes range of focus.

"You do not demand anything from me, _half-breed_, no woman should demand anything from her husband."

"What planet are you _on_?" she shouted at him, "A woman can_ demand_ anything she wants from anyone. She is not some _thing_ that you can play with or gives orders to. In fact, a woman can rule over _you _just as easily, or have you forgotten how your sister ruled over the kingdom while you rotted in the dungeon."

Several gasps were heard across the room. The fear in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife like any of the meats spread out in the table. Aragon looked ready to kill her, to take on his horrid draconic form and tear her throat out with his dagger fangs. Ophelia was horrified at the look in his eyes, but she refused to show it. She stared at him head on, not faltering the slightest. Somehow, his rage receded and was replaced by an amused smile. He breathed a laugh and patted her cheek playfully.  
"How amusing," he said, "your mother must have filled your head with all that nonsense. You are quite fortunate that you are the only one of your kind, I don't wish to damage my little rarity." His fingers curled into a tight grip around her face. "At least, not before our wedding night."

He pushed her back and she tripped into Dora's arms.  
"Take her back to her chambers, Dorothea," he demanded, "she's too _hysterical_ to dine in company. Besides, I believe everyone here have seen enough of her for one evening."

"Yes, brother." Dora said as she herded the dumbstruck half-ghost out of the room. No one was going to ask any questions, none wanted to ruin a good thing by questioning it.

* * *

"Okay, what in the Ghost Zone was _that_?" Ophelia asked while Dorothea prepared her for bed.

"_That_ was my brother being generous." Dora said sternly as she took out the last of the pins in Ophelia's hair and removed the diadem. "At any other occasion, you would be fortunate enough to be dragged away to the dungeons."

"Then why aren't I?"

"Because you don't keep the butterfly in the net where the wings get ruined, you keep it under glass for the whole world to see with the wings pinned down."

She brushed Ophelia hair until it shone lunar glow.

"I don't see any pins." Ophelia retorted

"Then you aren't looking hard enough." Dora took Ophelia's hand to show the ring on her finger.

"That is to make sure you won't get out of your glass case and flutter away."

Ophelia took her hand tried to pull the ring off her finger.

"Tacky junk won't come off." She muttered. She bite down on the ring and tried to pull it off with her teeth. Dora took Ophelia's hand of her mouth.

"All that's going to do is chip your teeth and give me a lashing from my brother. Nothing can remove the ring without the power from one of the Amulets of Aragon."

Ophelia turned and looked directly at Dora.

"Amulets? That thing Aragon's wearing? Didn't you have something like that."

Dora had a bitter look, like a child being reminded that they lost a game.  
"Yes, I did, but when he took the throne he hid it away. He thought a half-witted girl like me should not be trusted with all that power. He wasn't going to repeat his mistakes."  
Stared at the ring in deep thought.

"So, the only way to get this ring off is if someone wears either your amulet or Aragon's?"

"Yes."

Ophelia looked to the ground, the gears in her mind whirring and humming. Her eyes flashed and she smiled a dangerous smile.

"Dora, if there was a chance to get your amulet and return to the throne, would you take it."

"I would take it in a heartbeat, had I still a heart that could beat."

"Glad to hear. I've got a plan."

* * *

The Prince had been interrupted from his planning by his sister, Dorothea. She said his betrothed wished to see him in her chambers. It was important, she said. Whatever that half-breed had to say could not be more important than choosing which of his ermine robes to wear at the altar? With a growl of contempt, he made his way to the bedchambers of his bride. When he arrived, the girl was sitting on her bed hugging her knees. She was wearing her bedclothes. Dorothea should have dressed her more proper for an audience with the prince, he will have to scold her for this later.  
"Now, my dear," he said in place of a greeting, "What is so important that you had to pull me from planning for my wedding? And why are you still in bedclothes? A princess should not receive anyone in such a provocative manner."

The girl looked down at her gown in disbelief.

"Provocative? I'm more covered than this bed. In fact, I am better covered than I was in that get up you had me put in. The neckline was halfway down my chest."

"I have no time for you to complain about your clothing. If this is all that you called me for-"

"No," she said hastily as he tried to leave, "no, it isn't. I really asked you over here to apologize for my behavior. It was…unladylike of me to yell at you like that, and I'm sorry."  
"You should be sorry," he snipped, "Talking to me like you were my equal."

"I thought we were equals, since we are to be married and all."

"And what part of it made you think you would be as important as a man, let alone a prince."

The ghost girl's eyes flashed an annoyed glare.  
"Yes, right," she said with biting sarcasm, "how foolish of me to think I deserved to be treated like a human being."

"You are only half human, so I don't see why it matters."

"Why do you even want to marry me if you think so little of me?"

"Are you dull or just deaf? I told you before: I want what no one else can possess. Any ghost could marry another ghost, and, by how times are in your living world, any ghost could attain a human bride. But no one could attain a natural born half-ghost, as there is only one in existence."

"Me" She said flatly.  
"There we go, was that so hard to figure out?"

"Here's what I don't get, though: if you were just going to up and snatch me without bothering to give me a choice in the matter, why did you give me all that stuff to try to make me like you?"

Aragon rolled his eyes like she asked him something she should've already known.

"Because, it is traditional to bestow gifts upon the suited. You and your family needed to know of my wealth and status as a prince, to know that you will better off with me than you would be with them. It's a ridiculous ritual, _obviously _you're better off with a prince than the common riffraff, but tradition is tradition and I must follow them all,"

Ophelia's eyes flashed in her anger.  
"Riffraff? If history is true, I believe those 'riffraff' saved the worlds of both the living and the dead."  
"Any commoner can have his moment in the sun, that's how we have knights after all." His hand went to the side of her head and threaded through her hair. "The knighthood adds more value to the progeny, but deep down they are still peasants."  
Ophelia pushed him away, shouting "Don't touch me!" as Aragon fell to the ground.

Aragon sat up from his fall, rubbing the head he had apparently injured. He looked up at her with pure hatred. Ophelia gave him an equally aggressive stare, refusing to break in spite of the all real danger she put herself in. Aragon got up from the and grabbed her by the front of the dress.  
"A lady does not assault their betrothed!" He said.  
He raised his hand ready to strike her, Ophelia flinched in preparation of the blow. Fortunately, a knock came to the door.  
"Your Highness," said the voice from the other side of the door. "Your sister, she's escaped from the maids' quarters. We cannot find her anywhere."  
"After her amulet, no doubt." Aragon muttered. Aloud, he muttered: "Send in the guards, make sure does not make it to treasury. Do it now!"

He turned back to Ophelia, she could've sworn he looked disappointed. He pushed her back into the bed, she let out a small startled shriek.

"I'll deal with you later." He sneered.  
He slammed the door behind him as he left the room. Ophelia stared at the door and blinked in confusion. There was no one in the room to see her smile.

* * *

They finally spotted Dorothea halfway to the Treasury. She was at the door when the guards had finally caught up with her. An arrow from Aragon's head archer stopped her from opening the door. Two of the guards grabbed her and pulled her away, she struggled in futility against them. The guards parted to let His Highness through. He had that smug little face Dora hated seeing ever since they were living children.  
"Dearest sister, what made you think you could succeed in such a venture?"  
"What you are doing is wrong, Aragon," said Dora, "I was bringing his kingdom out of the Dark Ages and you decide to pull us all back in. You have no respect for other people and treat them like servants."  
"But they are my servants, just like you."  
"I am your sister! I am not you handmaid, and I will certainly not play handmaid to that girl!"

"You are simply jealous of me, Dorothea, that I have so much and the afterlife has given you so little."  
"I'm jealous? You've always been jealous of me because Mother liked me best."  
"Mother only pitied you because she knew no one would marry you."  
"No, that's the reason Mother paid any attention to you at all. And it was true. You died a lonely bachelor and even in the afterlife you are alone. I can see now why you have to abduct your brides to be, because there is no other way to have anyone of the female sex sit in the same room as you!"  
Silence fell upon the courtyard. Everyone held a wary eye on their Prince, terrified of what he might do. His blood red eyes were filled with unbound rage for his sister.  
"You do not talk to your prince in such a way, _wench_," he hissed, "Must I remind you who has the power here?"  
A wave of gasps went across the crowd as the cleared the area for the terrifying form to come. But to the surprise of the court, and to the Prince himself, nothing happened. Dora smiled at the look of confusion on her brother's face. Aragon looked down to inspect his amulet. His hand went to his shirt to find that there was nothing there.  
A whistle echoed across the courtyard, the people turned to a window high up in the turret. There in that window was Aragon's bride, looking down at the crowd smugly.  
"Hey, Prince Charming," said the ghost girl, "Looking for this?"  
She extended her arm out the window. Something in her hand glinted in the scarce light of the realm. Lo and behold, there in her hand was the symbol of power in their little kingdom: the Amulet of Aragon.

"You thieving little wretch!" cried the livid prince, "return my amulet at once!"  
"And I would listen to a pompous brat like you because…?" said Ophelia as she playfully spun the amulet around her finger.

"I am your prince and you will do as I say!"

"You are not my prince, you are not any prince, you are nothing but a spoiled, ill-tempered, misogynistic, ignorant- _whoops!"_  
The amulet flew off from her hand and fell to the crowd below her. To all's misfortune, Aragon managed to catch it in his hand. Had anyone in the crowd a beating heart or veins full of blood, they would've gone pale at that very moment. Ophelia's eyes dimmed as Aragon put his amulet back on. No one could hear her mumble a single word from high up in her tower: "Fail!"  
The crowd dispersed and ran inside the safety of the castle walls as their Prince resumed his monstrous form. He wings nearly scraped the walls surrounding the courtyard when he stretched them out. He took in deep breath, tendrils of smoke came out of his nostrils. Ophelia's eyes widened, she could tell what was going to happen next. She ducked down beneath the window, barely missing the green inferno flowing through it by half a second and half an inch. When fire ceased for a moment, Ophelia got up and tried to charge her hand for a ghost ray. It was when nothing happened that she noticed the ring still on her finger.  
"And of course, I didn't bother taking the ring off when I still had the amulet." She muttered to herself, " And the Darwin Award goes to…"  
A monstrous claw came in through the window and grabbed her. She let out a small squeak when the air was squeezed out of her lungs from the beast's tight hold. She struggled as best she could to get out of Aragon's grip while he pulled her out of the room and towards his red eyes to see her.  
"How dare you defy me, _half-breed_!" boomed the dragon at Ophelia. She cringed at how loud it was and how painful it was to her unprotected ears. "A lady does not defy her Prince _or _her husband! A lady does what she is told and nothing more!"  
"Then I guess I'm not a lady." Ophelia grunted as she tried to get her arms free.  
"Not yet," he sneered, "but I am going to make you one. I'm going to make you one if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make you one _especially_ if it kills you."

A flash of blue light hit Aragon at his side, sending him to the adjacent wall. Ophelia fell out of his claw. In about twenty feet, something caught her. She found herself clinging onto the green spines on blue scales. The creature stopped on a turret and turned her head to the girl.  
"You okay, dear?" said the blue dragon.  
"D-Dora?" Ophelia asked.  
"My brother's tantrums make for a good distraction, and there are no locks in the dragon's den."  
Ophelia nodded in confirmation. She looked down and her grip tightened on the spine she was hanging from.

"What's the matter, Ophelia?"  
"Nothing, it just donned on me that I nearly plummeted to my death. No wonder humans are afraid of heights."  
"Get down!" Dora shouted as she flattened herself to the roof. Ophelia did the same against Dora's back. She felt an intense heat go up her back, letting her know of the flames she narrowly dodged. When the fire stopped, she sat back up to see Aragon not too far away with smoke slithering out of the corner of his grinning mouth.  
Dora narrowed her eyes at her brother. She picked up Ophelia and put her down on the flat surface of the turret.  
"Stay here"  
"I can handle him," Ophelia protested.  
"I'm not going to risk it. If something happens to you, your mother will never forgive me."  
"But-" Dora flew off before Ophelia could say anymore. Ophelia crossed her arms and pouted indignantly as she watched Dora charged at her brother.  
Dora swung a punch at Aragon that knocked him out of the sky. He crash-landed into the forest, leaving a deep trench in the earth as he skid across. He got up on his four legs and sneered up and Dora.  
"Must you always fight so unfairly, Dorothea?" Aragon asked.  
"Says the guy who brought in two armed men and a magic talisman to fight an adolescent girl!" Ophelia shouted to him.  
"Silence, Half-breed!"  
"Stop calling me that!"  
Aragon ignored her and leaped back into the sky. Dora swerved away from him and flew low to the forest. Aragon took in a deep breath and flew fire at her. Dora managed to narrowly dodge the flames, with the forest left to suffer the blows.  
"Great," Dora said, "just when the woods had recovered from the last time you set it on fire!"  
She went at top speed with horns extended in hopes to impale her brother. Aragon ducked under and grabbed her by her tail. After swinging her around a few times, he let go and she went flying into a castle wall. The vibrations of the impact moved all the way to the top of the turret where Ophelia was, knocking her flat on her butt.  
"Oof!"  
Dora scrambled out of the crater and made her way back into the air. The two dragons spat fire at the other. The flames collided in an explosion that reminded Ophelia of fireworks. The next moment, the dragons were locking horns and claws, trying to overpower the other.

"Give up, Dorothea," said Aragon, "You can't win. I am better fit to rule over this kingdom. I am the Prince, and you are just the servant girl."  
"You are no Prince, you are nothing but a brat! You have been since we were alive, that's why Mother and Father gave _me _the kingdom and left me to entrust you! You have taken so much from me, put me and your people through so much suffering," Dora quickly shot her claw to Aragon's throat and tore off his amulet. "Now it is time I take back my kingdom."  
Almost immediately after the amulet was removed, Aragon shrank down into his humanoid and, having no wings to keep him afloat started plummeting to the ground.  
The entire kingdom cheered below. Dora flew down to the courtyard, transforming back into her original form before her feet touched the ground. The crowd bowed before their Princess, and she smiled. Dora held up Aragon's amulet as a sign of victory which caused the crowd to return to their cheers.  
"Hey! Hello! Up here!" up on her turret, Ophelia shouted down to the ghosts with frantic waving arms. "I think it's awesome that you got you're kingdom back and took down your jerkface brother and all, but how about you GET ME DOWN FROM HERE! Oh, and GET THIS STUPID RING OFF ME!"

* * *

"So everything was going just fine when all of a sudden the speakers exploded. Then there were these two hulking ghosts with this scrawny little one. The scrawny one was asking for Fenton-"  
"Did he use her actual name?"  
"No, but he was asking for the 'half-breed' so it wasn't hard to figure out who he was talking about."  
"And then what happened?"

"Then I did my job and tried to protect the kids. Then Fenton bursts in like this was some kind of Old West movie. Then the little one turned into this big dragon and they started to fight. The only thing I could do at that moment was herd the kids out of the gym and keep them out of danger. By the time I got everyone out, they were gone."  
"That's not what happened at all!"  
Darcy ducked under the caution tape covering the door, with Abi and Em following after her. She went up to Detective Gray and Coach Baxter with an accusing finger towards her teacher.  
"He gave them her name, acted tough for like two seconds, and as soon as one them brandished his big old axe he ran screaming out of the room," She shot a judgmental glare at Baxter, "like a little girl."  
Abi and Em finally caught up with her and came to her side.  
"I wouldn't say 'run off like a little girl'," Abi said with a nervous laugh, "more like 'going out to get help'."  
"Thank you, de Fleur" said Baxter.  
"Yeah, help from his _mommy_," Darcy scoffed.  
"_Darcy!_"  
"What? I'm just telling the police what really happened. Any bit of information could help him get our friend back."  
Before anyone could say another word, there was a flash of light in the middle of the gym. The light came from a ghost portal, of which the center of their argument came through.  
"I'm back!" She chirped.  
Abi bee-lined towards her friend before Em or Darcy could think of doing the same. Abi gave Ophelia a constricting hug.  
"Phé, you're alright! I thought you were eaten by that dragon ghost thing."  
"Don't be stupid, Abi," Darcy said when she caught up to them. "He wasn't going to eat her, he said quite clearly that he was going to marry her."  
"He didn't marry you, did he?" Em asked with her sympathetic brown eyes.  
Ophelia held up her hand, completely void of a ring. "Nope, Ophelia Lilith Fenton is still on the market."  
"Alright, settle down girls." said Detective Gray as she made her way over without a single acknowledgement to Baxter. To Ophelia, she said, "You alright, Phé, what happened?"  
"Oh, you know, something from my parents' family reared its ugly head and nearly killed me. The usual stuff."  
"Mind coming to the station with me to give a full statement?"  
"Sure thing, do I have to give one in the Ghost Zone too?"  
"I'll check with Dani when we get , after I call your parents to let them know what's going on. They've been worried sick about you, your dad was about to jump into the Ghost Zone after you. He was also rambling something about boys and cats, you have any idea what that means?"

Ophelia face-palmed while letting out an exasperated sigh. "Unfortunately yes, but it's a long story."  
Gray put her hand on her godchild's shoulder and smiled.  
"You can tell me on the ride over."  
They were heading for the door when Coach Baxter stopped them.  
"And where do you think you're going, Fenton? We still need to figure out how you are going to fix my gym."  
"The city's set aside budget for any damages caused by ghost attacks," said Gray, "You're gym will be fine. Now if you don't mind, Dash, I'm leaving to the station and taking my goddaughter with me."

* * *

They made it to Valarie's car when Ophelia's ghost sense went off. She scanned the area to find a boy with strawberry blonde hair standing behind the caution tape.  
"Hey, Auntie Val, could you give me a minute?" Ophelia asked.  
"Sure, but don't keep me waiting too long, I have to go through mountains of paper work just for _this _side of the duo verse."  
Ophelia gave a nod before walking off.  
"That's a lovely dress." He greeted her with.  
"Thanks," she said with a nervous smile. She fixed her eyes to the ground and sighed before she continued.  
"…Listen, Richard, I'm really sorry that I yelled at you the other day. It's just….you know those love letters I was getting?"  
"Yes"  
"Well….I thought they came from you. And…and I asked you out because then I thought you would stop sending them and….and you must think I'm really stupid, don't you? I mean, of course you would never think of me that way-"  
Richard put a hand over Ophelia's mouth.  
"Good lord, do you talk a lot." He laughed, "I may not have gone out of my way to harass you with letters and trinkets." He took his hand off her mouth and brushed away her bangs. He kissed her on the forehead and continued. "But I do fancy you, as I told you before, and I want to go on one of those date things with you."  
Ophelia lost some of her opacity, making it impossible to see her in the dark night.  
"You-you like me?"  
"Of course I do, Ophelia. You're the sweetest girl I've met. You go out of the way to make sure I adjusted to this modern world. You tolerated me and you're an actually my friend. Not to mention you have the most fantastic green eyes I've ever seen. So, this time I'll ask you: will you go out with me?"  
Richard felt her hand slip into his and give a gentle squeeze. He wished he could see her face to tell if she was smiling.  
"Yes," He heard her sweet voice say.  
He felt her kiss his cheek before the sound of footfalls towards the police car.


	13. The Feud

Danny sat quietly as he pensively watching Richard sitting across from him.

"So, Richard Waltz," Danny started, "That is your real name, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir." Richard responded plainly. "I mean, at least that's what I hope it is. It's really all I remember from when I was alive."  
"Mmhm," Danny said, his cold blue eyes piercing into Richard like an icy dagger. "Why do you want to attend a human school? I'm sure the Ghost Zone has plenty of places to teach you what your lifetime had failed to do."  
"Yes, but it is no substitute for the real thing. You see, Mr. Fenton, I never had the chance to have an education when I was alive. At least, from what I remember, nothing past grammar school. And the things I hear about modern schools caught my interest."  
"And what have you heard from modern schools? That there are pretty girls around every corner ripe for the picking?"  
Richard's eye widened. He shook his head fervently, so did he with his hands.  
"No, nothing like that!"  
"Then what is it like? You tell me. From what I've seen, you have been flirting with my daughter, playing the obtuse ghost that needs to be taught how to function in the modern, living world, and then after what couldn't be more than a week later, you're on a date with her. That doesn't sound like someone interested in a good education."  
"Please, Mr. Fenton, I really do care about her. I swear on my grave that I have no ill intents towards Ophelia. She is a kind, sweet, beautiful girl, and I consider myself the luckiest boy in the entire Ghost Zone to have someone like her in my afterlife. "  
"I'm glad we're on the same page." Danny got up from his seat and walked over to him. A twinge of nervousness went across Richard as Danny loomed over him. Danny blinked and his eyes turned an ominous ghostly green.  
"I am only going to say this once, so for your sake you better listen carefully. Ophelia is my one and only child, and I love her dearly. She has had things happen to her that would make one lose their faith in humanity, but despite that she managed to be a sweet, kind innocent child. As her father, it is my duty to protect her from any more harm. If you take advantage of her, break her heart in any way, if _any _harm falls upon her because of you, you will rue the day you died and left yourself with nothing to escape to. Are we at an understanding?"  
Richard said nothing, he could only nod his head in agreement. Danny smiled and his eyes returned to a placid blue. He tussled Richard's hair in a friendly manner.  
"Nice to know we have an understanding, Waltz, I'm glad we had this time to talk."

He walked over to the door behind Richard.  
"You're next date is tomorrow night, right? Bring her back home by eight and we'll have no problems."  
He opened the door to the vast space of the Ghost Zone.  
"Until then, Waltz."  
"Yes, Mr. Fenton," Waltz said hazily, "Until then."  
With that, Richard flew out of the room and into the Ghost Zone. Danny closed the door behind the boy and smiled. He walked across the room to the other door. He went through the door and into the second floor hallway of his house. He already made his way to the kitchen when the front door open and foot falls were heard.  
"Hey Dad, I'm home," chimed Ophelia's voice from the front door. "And I brought friends."  
Ophelia walked into the kitchen with her friends Darcy and Abi. Abi had on her cheerleading uniform with her pompoms poking out of her backpack, and Darcy and Ophelia wore their gym uniforms, covered in mud from the feet upwards and leaving a trail of it behind them.  
"Hey, hey, hey," Danny protested, "No dirt in the house. Do you know how much work your mother makes me go through to keep these floors clean?"  
Ophelia lifted her feet and inspected the soles.  
"Oops, sorry Dad, Coach Baxter made us run up that dirt trail in the park today." Ophelia kicked off her shoes and held them in her hands. "And of course after the rain yesterday it isn't exactly the cleanest track to run. Darcy, give me your shoes."  
Darcy rolled her eyes as she kicked off her shoes and handed them to Ophelia. Ophelia walked out and put the shoes out on the doorstep.  
Danny propped his head up on his elbow, and gave a tired expression.  
"Um, sweetie, did it ever occur to you to phase the dirt off?" He said.  
"Nope, but at least I'll know what to do in the future."  
"Hey, Mr. Fenton, do you have anything to eat?" Darcy asked.  
"I'll check, but I don't think we anything aside from my wife's rabbit food."  
"They're vegetables, and I think there are some ice cream pops in the freezer." Ophelia said as she reentered the room.  
"Then it's all yours."

"Yay" Abi said cheerily.  
As Ophelia went to the freezer and Darcy and Abi took their seats at the kitchen counter, Danny finally noticed something.  
"Hey, aren't there usually four of you girls?" Danny inquired.  
All three of the girls' face dropped.  
"Yeah, well, Em's not allowed to hang out with us anymore." Darcy said.  
"Why not, I thought you were all great friends."  
"It's nothing, Dad, just drop it." Ophelia said bitterly as she passed by him.  
"Come on, Phé," Abi said with a shove to the ghost girl's shoulder, "Just tell him, he might be able to talk to her."  
Ophelia glared at her harshly as she unwrapped her ice cream.  
"Talk to who about what?" Danny said, annoyed with the lack of information he was given.

"Nothing!" Ophelia said sharply.  
"Em's mom doesn't want her to hang out with us," Abi said, "she thinks Ophelia's too dangerous to be around."  
Danny looked over at Ophelia. Ophelia didn't look in anyone's direction as she sucked on her Ice cream pop.  
"Ophelia? Dangerous? Why would she think that?"  
Ophelia pulled the frozen treat out of her mouth with a _pop_.  
"No reason," Ophelia said sharply, "Just because I burned down the magic theatre, got the track field trashed, Em being drained to the point of anemia from a vampire, oh and let's not forget the giant dragon ghost that destroyed the gym and nearly got everyone hurt." With the last word, she shoved the ice cream into her mouth.  
"She's not seriously blaming you for that? None of that was your fault."  
_Pop  
_"I don't want to talk about this."  
_shove  
_"Well too bad, we're talking about it! I'm not letting someone keep my kid away from her friends because of something she didn't do." Danny look over to Abi and Darcy, "You two, you can stay here," he then turned to his daughter, "Ophelia, you're coming with me."  
Ophelia's eyes dimmed and she dropped the ice cream onto the table.  
"Dad, wait, no-"  
Danny ignored her and headed to the front door. He went all the way across the street to the Yumes' house when Ophelia finally caught up with him.  
"Dad, please, it's fine, I still see her at school. She just can't come over to our house. Please don't make it into a big deal."  
Danny rang the doorbell.  
"I'm just going to have a little talk with Em's parents. Honestly, what do you think is going to happen?"

He could see that Ophelia was about to say something, but the door opened before she could say a word. Behind the door was opened by a tall Asian woman who could be no more that forty years old. She had brown eyes and long black hair that hung over her shoulder.  
"Hello, Mrs. Yume," Danny greeted with a friendly smile. "I heard that you've been keeping Emelia from her friends. May I ask why?"  
"I'm not keeping my kid away from her friends," she said harshly, "Just your kid. And I think you already know my reasons."  
Danny's smile faded.

"No, I actually don't know the reason why."  
"Every time my kid is around yours, her life has been put in danger. I want to keep my Emelia alive, and I can't do that when she's hanging around with _her._"  
Ophelia looked away at the sight of Mrs. Yume's accusing finger pointed in her direction.  
"Hey, you can't blame my kid for that, none of it was her fault."  
"Like nothing is ever yours?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"Ever since you came back to this town, crime and property damage has sky-rocketed. You attract more trouble than you are worth. You go flying around in your cute little super hero suit while people like my husband have to clean up after your mess. Just because you saved the planet _one time, _you think you have the right to create chaos."  
"Listen lady, I work as hard as anyone else to protect this town from ghost criminals and so has Ophelia. She is forced by human laws to fight _your_ battles instead of having a normal life. Maybe if humanity wasn't so paranoid about us half-ghosts, my kid wouldn't be such a health hazard to your kid."  
"Or maybe if you ghosts weren't such trouble makers and stayed in your own damn dimension, we wouldn't have to make laws to protect ourselves from the likes of _you!"  
_Danny's eyes flashed green.  
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! You're actually stereotyping us based on the bad few your husband brings in to the station?"  
"That's not stereotyping, this is stereotyping: all ghosts are vengeful scum who have nothing better to do but terrorize the living to make themselves feel better about their own pitiful, wasted lives!"  
Ophelia's eyes flashed white and looked up to her father. Danny eyes beamed anger.  
"I wanted to be civil with you in hopes Ophelia could get her friend back, but if this is the kind of hatred and ignorance you are exposing your kids to, then I don't want _any_ of your family near mine."  
"Likewise, Phantom, now get off my property!"  
Mrs. Yume slammed the door at his face. His anger fizzed like soda pop. The nerve of that woman! He turned to leave and saw Ophelia. In her eyes, there was a mixture of sadness and anger.  
"_Dad!_" she chided, "What on Earth was that!"  
"Anthropocentric thinking at it's worst." He answered bitterly.  
Ophelia dropped her eyelids.  
"You know when you asked what you think was going to happen? Well, _that _was what I was thinking! You just alienated me from one of the only few friends I have here."  
"No worries, Ophelia," Danny said as he led Ophelia back to their house, "If she's anything like her mother she wasn't a good friend to have."  
"But she's _not _like her, Dad, she doesn't think that all ghosts are evil. Em didn't care less about my ghost half. "  
"I'm really sorry, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

Ophelia stopped in the middle of the street, causing Danny to do the same. She turned around to look up to him. Her eyes flickered at him angrily. No, not anger, frustration.  
"You don't get it, Dad, this would've all blown over if I kept my distance long enough. Mrs. Yume would've gotten over it if I gave her enough space, but _no_, you _had _to go and confront her about it! Now we're in a feud and I'll never see my friend again!"  
Danny could see that she was upset, but it wasn't towards him. She was hurt over the whole situation. Once again, she was being punished for something she had no control over.  
He put his hand on her shoulder.  
"I know how you're feeling, Phé, and I am sorry, but I am not apologizing to that woman."  
Ophelia's eyes flashed bright as a traffic light.  
"Fine! I hope you're happy, we are now in a feud."  
She turned and stomped off to their house. Danny stood there for a moment. It was then that he finally felt eyes on him and realized Ophelia's friends were still in the kitchen. He glared up to the kitchen window to find the two girls with their hands pressed against the glass looking through. As soon as they saw him looking back at them, they ducked under the window and out of his line of vision. Danny smiled. The girls must've watched the whole thing through the window. At least Ophelia didn't have to explain too much too them.

* * *

"He didn't bother talking to me about it first, he just went ahead and confronted her! Now I'm never aloud to see Em again!"  
Ophelia had just told her story to Richard while they sat in the middle of a grassy knoll, a part of Richard's realm in the Ghost Zone. The gentle breeze of swayed the tall grass to the ebbing rhythm of a sleeping ocean. He had his arm around her shoulder while she fiddle with a piece of the tall grass surrounding them.  
"You weren't aloud to see Em before." He reminded her.  
"Yeah, well, it's official now."  
"You cannot exactly blame your father for that, he only had the best intentions."  
"There's a whole road paved with the 'best intentions' and it doesn't lead to anywhere fun."  
Ophelia fell back and lied down, hidden in the rustling yellow and green sea.  
"To be honest, I'm not mad at him, I'm not even mad at Em's mom, I'm mad at myself. Things like this happen to me over and over again, and I wonder each time why it happens. I shouldn't even bother wondering when I know the answer: I am too different. No one knows what to do with me and it scares them. So they try to put me to good use, or just keep me out of sight. I try to be normal, I want so much to be normal, but it's hard when you don't know what borders between normal and different. As much as I try, I always end up upsetting someone and have to live with the consequences, and there are always consequences."

Richard looked down at her.  
"Must you blame yourself for everything."

"Why not, I make a great scapegoat."  
"You're not a scapegoat," Richard brushed the snow-white locks from her purple eyes. "More like a sacrificial lamb."

"Thanks." She said with bitter sarcasm.  
"Who cares what other people think of you? Who cares about anyone? You have a right to be who you are and you shouldn't let people hold you back. You deserve to be happy along with the rest of us and hiding yourself in the dark will not make you happy."  
Ophelia looked away, her eyes reflected the unseen sun and the ebbing grass.  
"Knowing that I haven't hurt someone makes me happy, knowing that no one's dead because of me makes me happy, knowing that other people are happy makes me happy. If I use my powers, no one's happy."  
"I'm guessing your weird sense of guilt involves your ghost-proof blood?"  
Ophelia's face showed no reaction, save for a pale flash across her eyes.  
"I don't want to talk about it."  
"Alright, we won't. Here," He took her hand and stuck his other hand under her shoulder blade. He pulled her up and rested her head on his lap. "this is not a time or place to worry about all of life's troubles, this is a place where you ignore them for a while. What kind of boyfriend am I to let you wallow in your misery for this long?"  
Ophelia casted her eyes to the earth beneath them.  
"What kind of girlfriend am I to bother you with my problems."

"A troubled one."  
At that moment, something happened. Their eyes met and a strange feeling came to her. She sat up and put a hand to the side of his face, he mirrored the action. Their faces were leaning closer and closer to each other and their eyes slowly closed. The next thing she knew, she felt his lips touch hers.  
Ophelia's head buzzed, a tidal wave of information flooded her mind. She saw flashes, heard sounds, smelled scents, none of them were anything she had experienced before. It was all too much for her to take in at once, she was feeling sick.  
Ophelia pulled away. Her eyes dimmed to a pale lilac with a wide stare at Richard. She was breathing heavily to soothe her overwhelmed senses, she guessed Richard thought she needed to breathe.  
"I've got to go."  
She got up and brushed the dirt from her jeans. Richard looked on with a perplexed expression.

"Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine, just fine." She said in a hasty panic, "I-I just promised my dad that I'd be home early and whoa, look at the time, it'll almost be dark soon."  
"Should I walk you back?"  
"No, no, I'm good, I'm fine, peachy keen. You just stay here, I'll see you at school tomorrow."  
Before Richard could protest, Ophelia scurried off to the gate at the bottom a little ways away and opened it into the Ghost Zone. She shut the door behind her and winced when she realized it was a slam. She leaned against the door and slid down to sit onto the little bit of rock below it. She took deep, even breaths to calm herself. She was completely shaking from the sensory overload. This was not what she expected from her first kiss.

* * *

School the next day was the perfect storm of awkward. She was still shaken from their kiss the other night and so kept a plutonic distance from Richard (she found even standing next to him for too long triggered some of the sensory overload). She couldn't go near Em now that she was officially banned from going near her, Abi and Darcy were trying to avoid either of them terrified of taking sides. Mick kept the same distance because Abi was doing so. The only people left to hang around her was Wal and Owen, but she was just as scared of being around Owen as was with Richard so it only left Wal.  
"Hey, why aren't you tip toeing around me like everyone else?" Ophelia inquired.

"I guess I didn't get the memo." Wal said. "So you've managed to scare away our whole gang in less than twenty four hours, maybe you should add alienation to your list of superpowers."  
"Or maybe you and Mick shoulder add that to your collection of superheroes." Ophelia retorted with a smirk. "It's got to be better than Captain Confection."  
"Hey, being able to turn anything into sweets is a very useful power."  
"Oh yes, gingerbread men are very scary." Ophelia laughed.  
"Well excuse me if I can't think of a superhero as extraordinary as Danny Phantom."

"You're excused. I have to admit that you can't top a half-ghost, especially not one who saved both sides of the duoverse."  
"You're darn right, it is."  
They started laughing when Richard came over.

"What's so funny?"

Ophelia waved it off as she calmed herself.

"It's nothing, no worries."

Richard wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. The kiss triggered some of the senses she felt from yesterday, coming in like an electrical shock.

"How are you feeling today?" He asked sincerely.

"Um, fine, thank you." She said nervously.

"Did you make it home on time last night?"  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I got home safe. Sorry if I worried you."  
"As long as you're safe, I'm happy."  
He leaned in for another kiss when Ophelia spotted Owen coming their way. Ophelia quickly phased out of Richard's arm and took a step to the side.  
"Hey Ophelia," Owen greeted, "Hey Wal….uh, hey Richard. Do you know what's up with everyone lately."  
"Ophelia started a feud." Wal told him.  
"I did not!"  
"Fine, Ophelia told her dad about Em's mom and he started a feud. Now everyone's avoiding each other so they won't be forced to pick a side."

"What, that's insane!" Owen replied aghast, "You don't hate Em, do you Phé?"  
"I don't, and neither does she hate me, but she's terrified of her mother and my dad doesn't exactly have her in his good books either at the moment."  
"That sucks! Does that mean we have to pick sides too?"  
"Not necessarily, you cam be with both of us if you want. No one has to pick sides over us. The choice is yours, and Darcy's, and Abi's…for both her and Mick."  
Owen laughed.  
"Oh Mick and that hopeless crush of his. I mean, everyone knows that he likes Abi, including Abi, he should just fess up to her about it. Let the chips fall as they may, you know?"  
Wal tried in vain to stifle a chuckle, Ophelia flashed a cautionary glance his way without the other two boys seeing it.  
"Perhaps he's not aware of it himself, emotions are a confusing aspect of the human psyche."  
"Oh, he's aware of it. He's had this crush since the eighth grade, we guys talk about it all the time, don't we Wal?"  
"Yes, we do."  
Ophelia bit her lip.  
"Well, maybe he's just scared of what will happen if he asked her out. I mean, you guys have been friends since you were little kids, that's a lot to jeopardize over a crush that might've just gone away on its own."  
"Well, what I'm saying is that he shouldn't be scared to admit how he feels to a girl he likes. If he doesn't do it soon, he'll end up regretting it when someone else snatches her up."  
Ophelia's eyes dimmed. She casted them down to the ground.  
"I guess you're right."  
Yet another poorly covered laugh came from Wal's direction. Ophelia glared at him annoyed. She kept her hand at a low, unnoticeable level as she poin her finger towards Wal and stung him with a ghost ray.  
Just when Wal made a protesting "Ow" the bell rang to warn inform them that class is about to start.  
"I got to get to class." Owen said.  
"Yeah, me too." Wal said while rubbing the spot Ophelia shot him at.  
They walked off to the directions of their classes When Owen stopped and looked back.  
"You coming, Phé?"  
"Nah, this is my free period. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"  
"Maybe." He said jokingly and walked off.  
Ophelia turned around to open her locker.  
"Okay, what was that?" Richard asked.  
"What was what?" Ophelia said, her eyes stayed on the combination dial.  
"That, that thing with your friends. What was that?"  
Ophelia bit the corner of her lip.  
"Um…well, you know….teenager stuff."  
"I don't know teenager stuff, you're suppose to teach me teenager stuff. That's how our dynamic worked to begin with."  
"It's….it's like normal stuff except it involves teenagers so there's more drama."  
"That still doesn't explain to me what was that all about."  
Ophelia rolled her eyes and groaned.  
"Okay, fine, Wal was laughing because….Owen likes someone."  
Richard had a small look of surprise that turned into a smile.  
"He does?"  
"Yeah, but he's not quite aware that he has a crush on this person, so please don't mention it."  
"Well, who is this object of his unknown affections?"  
Ophelia's eyes widened and flashed a pale green, though lucky for her Richard couldn't see this reaction.  
"You wouldn't know her, she's…a friend of his." She opened her locker. "Look, I don't want to talk about this. He's not aware of his emotions, and so doing anything about this crush would be too risky."  
"'Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all' there's a reason why they say that."  
"To make themselves feel better about getting their heart broken?"  
"Because the pain of regret is a lot worse than the pain of rejection."  
Ophelia said nothing as she finished sorting through her locker and backpack.  
"It's too late now. She's already with someone." And with that, she slammed her locker shut.

* * *

Ophelia was the first out of class and into the cafeteria. She bought her lunch and read quietly in wait for her friends to fill the empty seats of their lunch table.  
"Mind if I sit with you?"  
Ophelia looked up. To her surprise, Em stood in front of her with her own tray of food.  
"Um, sure, of course, go ahead." She stammered.  
Em took her seat across from Ophelia.  
"I'm sorry for my mom the other day."  
"I'm sorry for my dad the other day."  
"Why are you sorry? Why are you sorry, my mom called you guys degenerates."  
"She called ghosts degenerates, so technically we're somewhere in between."  
"I swear, she's not always like this. It's just that my dad has been hospitalized for the fifth time in six months and then there were all those ghost attack at school and-"  
"Em, don't worry about it I completely understand. I don't condone her behavior, but I understand why she acts like that. And I'm not holding anything against you, I know you don't think like that."  
A smile cracked into the corner of Em's mouth.  
"Thanks, Phé. You know, just because we can't go to each other's houses doesn't mean we can't hang out with each other at school."  
"_EMELIA ASAMI YUME!_"  
"But this probably will."  
The two girls turned to see the source of the voice. Mrs. Yume stood in the cafeteria doorway. Ophelia had never seen a human being look so angry in her life. Mrs. Yume walked up to the girls and grabbed Em by the arm.  
"You forgot your gym clothes, Emelia." She threw the wad of red and white clothes on the table , away from the girls food. "_I cannot believe you! I told you to stay away from that mutt and now I catch you sitting in the same table! I expected this kind of thing from your father, but you?"  
"But Mom, she's my friend-"  
"She is no friend of yours! She'll get you killed! Her whole family is nothing but fanatics and mutants!"  
"Don't talk about my family like that!" _Ophelia shouted.  
Both Em and Mrs. Yume looked at her like she grew a second head.  
"What did you say?" Mrs. Yume asked.

"I said don't talk about my family like that. Just because you're scared for your family doesn't mean it makes it okay to take it out on mine. We have done nothing to you but try to be good neighbors and friends you blame us for the misdeeds of others. I'm sorry that Mr. Yume's hurt, and I'm sorry that Em had been put in risky situations in the past couple of months, I really am, but _do not _call me a mutt!"  
Mrs. Yume narrowed her eyes at Ophelia. She turned to Em and said: "We'll talk about this at home." And then left the room. Em's brown eyes were little dots in the shock of the ordeal. Ophelia bit her lip.  
"I guess that didn't help at all." Ophelia grumbled.  
Em eyes went from the door and to Ophelia. Ophelia lost some of her opacity from such and unnerving glare.  
"What?"  
"Why didn't you tell me you spoke Japanese?" Em asked.  
"Uh, 'cause I don't." Ophelia said.  
"Yes you did, just now, you spoke Japanese."  
Ophelia's eyes flickered. She was very confused.  
"What are you talking about? I was speaking English, so were you."  
"No, I wasn't, neither was my mother. She was yelling in Japanese, and _you _understood it."  
"No, I didn't. I can't speak Japanese, I can only speak English. I only _know English!_"

"_You sure you can only speak English?"_

"_Yes, I can only speak English!"  
_Em smiled.

"That wasn't English, Ophelia, you just spoke Japanese again."  
Ophelia slapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes went pale, flicking and darting around as she tried to understand what was happening.  
"Ophelia, could it be possible that this is another power of yours?"  
Ophelia's eyes widened. Her hands shot to Em's and held them in a death grip.  
"This never happened, I can only speak English. I don't know any other language. Please, Em, don't tell anyone about this."  
"Okay, okay, this never happened, I won't tell anyone."  
"Promise me, Em, promise me you won't tell anyone."  
"I promise."  
Ophelia phased through the table and gave Em a hug.  
"Thank you so much, you have no idea what this means to me."  
"No problem" Em choked out, "Now please let go, you're crushing me."

"Oh, sorry"

* * *

After a stressful day like today, Ophelia would sneak out of the house and spend the whole night flying. And flying is what she did. Through the clouds and amongst the stars. She even zigzags around tall buildings at top speed if she felt daring (thus starting the Fenton's "in case Ophelia smashes through another building" budget). She was floating in the clouds. She liked how the condensation collected on her skin as droplets of water, slowly but surely soaking herself through. The water reminded her that she was still a tangible, existing being while the dense mist made her forget the rest of the existential plane. Oh, how simple it was when she felt she was the only one in the world. But she knew she'll eventually have to come down to the living world, being a tired, cold, and damp girl alone in a sleeping town.  
Her moment of meditation ended when a familiar chill hiccupped across her body. She opened her eyes to see a familiar blue wisp escape her mouth. She shrugged it off and lied back into a lounging position.  
"Probably just someone passing through," Ophelia thought aloud, "If not, it's not my problem."  
The next moment, there were flashes of light in the clouds. An area close to her was cut through with a laser. Ophelia formed a ghost shield around herself to prevent friendly fire. She waved it off within the safety of her ecto-bubble.  
"Just a few missed shots, still not my problem."  
Through the little hole in the clouds were the shot was made, something came through. It was a portly little thing, where a grey dock worker's uniform. Ophelia let out an exasperated groan when she recognized the ghostly nuisance.  
"Okay, now it's my problem." She said to herself, "But he's definitely not worth the effort."  
"Foolish human, your puny weaponry is no match for me!"  
"Hey, Box Ghost!"  
The pathetic specter turned his head to her. If a ghost could turn pale, he was certainly doing it now.  
"Look, dude, it's been a long day, I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I don't want to deal with your stupidity tonight. So how about we skip the part where I beat you to a pulp and you can just turn yourself in to the police. Okay?"  
The Box Ghost blinked, she can she the cogs in his mind trying to work out her simple demand. After a few minutes, he raised his hands to the side of his hand and waved them.  
"Beware!" he shouted before darting back down to earth.  
Ophelia rolled her eyes aggravated.  
"Oh, for the love of – Why can't that guy ever do things the easy way!"  
She shot back down to earth like a bullet out of a gun. It didn't take long to catch up with the blue nuisance. As soon as he caught sight of her gaining on him, he started picking up the speed.  
"He may not be much of a threat, scratch that, he may not be _any _kind of threat, but the guy sure can fly fast."  
He was pulling out all the tricks to escape her tonight. He weaved around buildings, flung any and every box at her that he could find on the street (including the mailboxes), he even shot a few ghost rays at her, but all attempts only managed to slow her down a little.  
"Come on, dude," Ophelia called out to him, "You're just tiring yourself out by doing this."  
They soon made their way to the park, where he used the trees as his means to shake her off.  
"You really think a bunch of trees will help you get away from me-"  
Just when she said that, she came out of the thicket of trees and rammed straight into the park fountain. Water spewed out like a geyser. Just when she was dried out from being up from the clouds, she was thoroughly soaked by the fountain (or at least the pile of rubble that was the fountain).  
Ophelia rubbed her head, which throbbed horribly from hitting the fountain first. She was grateful to find that she was not bleeding and, as far as she could tell, had no concussion.  
"That was extremely lucky," she murmured to herself.  
The Box Ghost floated above her, prepared for his ever so annoying rants.  
"Haha, foolish ghost-child, you cannot capture me. I am the Box Ghost!"  
Ophelia's eyes flashed through her dripping wet hair.  
"For Pete's sake," Ophelia shouted at him, "I already have a headache thanks to you, no need to add another one!"  
She raised a glowing hand to open a portal behind him. She shot him into the portal right when he was shouting another "Beware!" and the portal closed behind him. Ophelia fell back into basin of the fountain with a loud splash that nearly irritated her headache further. She stayed there for a few minutes, letting the cold water ease her aching head, before a bright light was shined in her direction.  
Ophelia sat up and the light flashed directly and painfully into her eyes. The light was far too bright for her eyes to adjust, so she could not see the holder of the light. But her insight immediately recognized the person's psyche and it made her nervous.  
"Oh, um, hello, Officer Yume, fancy seeing you here. How's your arm?"

"Fine, Ms. Fenton. Care to explain why you're sitting in the middle of the rubble that once was the park fountain?"  
"Sure, but could you not shine that light in my face, I've got a migraine coming on."  
Officer Yume aimed the flashlight away from her face. Her eyes blinked, her pupils dilated in response to the lack of light.  
"Now, why did you destroy the fountain?"  
"Could you please whisper, and I didn't mean to destroy the fountain. I saw you guys were after the Box Ghost, and you know how the Bystander Contract makes me help you when I'm involved in some way (and technically dodging your shots makes me involved). So I chased him to the park but I couldn't hit the brakes in time, so I, uh, kind of crashed into the fountain."  
Ophelia ended her story with a nervous laugh. She rubbed the back of her head partly because of the headache, partly because of the stress of the situation.  
"So then, where's the Box Ghost."  
"He's with the GZPD, I knocked him into a portal."  
"So you have nothing to validate your story? You do know that destruction of public property is a crime?"

"Go ahead and put it on my tab."

* * *

Ophelia's head felt like it was going to split in two at the sound of the cell door slamming shut.  
"Are you kidding me!" Ophelia screeched despite her headache.  
"I told you that destruction of property was a crime." Said Officer Yume  
"Yeah, which you send me home and we have to pay for the damages. You do not lock me up in a cage with a stupid cuff on me!"  
"This is how we treat everyone who breaks the law, don't think you're special because your godmother is captain of the precinct."  
"I don't think I'm special because of Auntie Val, I think I'm special because I'm the only minor legally obligated to fight crime with the police. That same obligation absolves me from sitting in a jail cell because I _did your stinking job for you!_"  
"I can see why my wife wanted to keep you away from Emelia."  
Ophelia's eyes flashed.  
"Please, tell me I'm wrong, but does this have anything to do with that dispute my dad had with Mrs. Yume?"  
"Of course not, that would be completely unethical of me to arrest someone because of a personal issue."  
"It _does_, doesn't it."  
"I am calling your parents so they know where you are. With any luck, you won't spend the whole night here."  
Officer Yume walked away. Ophelia kicked the bars in her frustration, causing the whole structure to shake.  
"You are _so _lucky Auntie Val is off tonight!" She shouted. "And you could've _at least_ given me a towel to _dry off_!"

* * *

"I can't believe Mr. Yume locked you up."  
Abi and Darcy met up with Ophelia the next morning after her night in jail.  
"It's fine, really. I was only in there for like two hours. What was worse was when my dad picked me up. I swear, I thought he was going to knock him out then and there."  
"This feud thing is getting way out of hand." Darcy said.  
"I know, Dad said he was going to get Mr. Yume fired, that he was going to sue him for locking me up. I don't want that."  
"How do you think Em is going to take this?" Abi asked, "What if she makes us take sides! I don't wanna take sides, we just got our whole group set up!"

"Ophelia!"  
Abi flinched at the sound of Em's voice. Ophelia looked over to Em on her blades rolling herself over.  
"I heard about what happened last night, I'm sorry. My dad finally heard word from the GZ prison after you and your dad left. They confirmed your claim about the Box Ghost, and so did the officers that were initially chasing after him. They saw a flash of light dart out of the clouds after him, I'm guessing that was you?"  
"Yeah, it was."  
"My dad's so sorry about last night. He just got transferred into the 13th precinct before his injury, he didn't know the protocol for you and your dad. He thought he had no choice but to take you in-"

Ophelia raised her hand.  
"Just forget it, please. I want to forget about it."  
"Please, Phé, he's not like my mom, he doesn't have any prejudice against ghosts. He actually likes them a lot, even if a lot of his injuries are from him getting caught in the crossfire of GHCU."  
"I said forget it, alright!"  
"I'm just trying to apologize-"  
"I forgive you! I forgive him! Okay, just please drop it!"  
Ophelia stomped off, too upset to deal with anything. Em watched her leave, wide eyed in confusion.  
"What's up with her?"  
Abi leaned on Em's shoulder and shook her head.  
"Prison, man, it changes people."

* * *

Sam knocked on the Yume's door. Mrs. Yume answered the door, her eyes narrowed at Sam.  
"Hello, Helen," Sam said sweetly.  
"What do you want, Fenton, you here to serve my husband with the lawsuit your husband was screaming about?"  
"Actually, I'm here to apologize for my husband's behavior. You see, we used to live in a couple of town that did not accept ghosts like Amity did. In fact, one of them accused me of being a witch, believe it or not." Sam laughed to lighten the mood, but Mrs. Yume was having none of it. Sam cleared her throat and continued.  
"But you see, he gets sensitive to any anti-ghost stuff. So he kind of overreacted, and I'm sorry for that. But you have been overreacting too, you have to admit."  
"So, your daughter had her outburst too. You should've heard he tantrum she had when she was in the holding cell."  
"That's understandable, she's only a child after all. But we're full grown adults, we're suppose to set a good example for our kids, but instead we've been making them miserable over our petty arguing. How about we make amends and be done with this feud, for our daughters' sakes." Sam stuck out her hand. Mrs. Yume stared at it, he arms folded. "We don't have to like each other, we just have to tolerate each other enough to have our kids over."  
Mrs. Yume unfolded her arms and used her finger to lower Sam's hand.  
"I am not having my daughter play with your ecto-mutt of a daughter. She's a privileged, spoiled brat that destroys half the town. I had my husband arrest your kid in hopes that she would learn to behave, but all it did was show the whole precinct how much of a brat she is."  
Sam scowled.  
"So you're saying you had your husband arrest my daughter because she's half ghost?"  
"No, I had her arrested because she's a horrible ghost brat."

"That's all I needed to hear."

Sam put a hand to her ear and pulled out her earring, a silver and green earring that looked a lot like a communication piece. Mrs. Yume's eyes widened.  
"Here's how it's going to go, Helen, we are ending the feud, our daughters are going to be friends again, we are allowing them to go to each other's houses, and _you _are not going to called my baby a mutt or I will take this confession in and charge both you and your husband with a hate crime."  
"You wouldn't."  
"I certainly would."  
Helen and Sam just stared each other, seeing who would crack first. Without breaking her stare, Mrs. Yume said.  
"Your house or mine?"  
"How about yours first, and maybe we can invite you all over to dinner on Saturday. I'll cook some meat for you guys."  
"Fine, but I'm bringing a dessert."  
"Deal."

"Deal."

With that, Mrs. Yume closed the door. Sam smiled and put the Fenton-phones in her pocket. She walked back to her house with a spring in her step. Danny was at the doorway when she came in.  
"And that's how you end a feud." Sam said smugly.  
"Hmm, blackmail," Danny said sardonically, "who knew?"


	14. Heart of Glass

Ophelia didn't think those things she heard about being in a relationship was true until she was with Richard. They have been dating for a couple weeks now, and they were the happiest weeks she ever remembered having. She wanted him to be by her side, and there he was. She wanted someone to talk to, and so he listened. She wanted someone that she felt safe with, and that is how he made her felt. She wanted someone who she knew would be safe near her, who better than someone who's already dead? Everything that she would ever want in a boyfriend, he was just that. It was if he was made for her.  
She was starting to adjust to the kissing, too, just a little. After a few more times, she managed to handle and process the bits of his psyche that would flood in. They became whole memories, thoughts, dreams, things that she assumed had happened when he was alive, things that she couldn't tell he was fully aware of. It was in those moments of looking over the bits and pieces that were the very essence of her main squeeze that the small, dark cloud hovered across the golden horizon that was her love life: the guilt of knowing too much. What if she accidentally said something about what she saw? How was she to explain how she had learn that? How can she explain her insight, a thing, like many things about herself, that she has tried so long and so hard to keep anyone from knowing, even her parents? Which led her to another, equally great fear: what if she ends up telling too much about herself?  
Those fears swam across her mind when she was away from him. But then, somehow, when she was near him, those fears were extinguished like a flame, and she wanted to do nothing but be with him.  
Right now, they were in the park. Ophelia had her head on his lap and he was stroking her hair.  
"What are you thinking of?" Richard asked.  
Ophelia smiled and looked up at him.  
"Oh, just that I'm lucky to have you."  
"That is exactly what I was thinking. Methinks our minds doth fall in sync."  
"Methinks you need more tutoring sessions."  
He bent down and kissed her. She let the new information come in, enjoying the things she saw. He pulled away and combed his fingers through her hair.  
"You are the most beautiful creature in the world. You should let other people see that."  
"Why? The only people that matter already know."  
"How do you know who matter and who don't at a glance? And how are people suppose to know and love the real you if you hide yourself away?"  
"I let myself show to those I can trust."  
"And how do you know that they can be trusted?"  
Ophelia eyes flashed as she gave a knowing smile.  
"I can just see it."  
His ran his fingers through her hair and leaned in for another kiss.

"Looks can be deceiving." He breathed when he pulled away.

* * *

"So, Ophelia, where's Richard?"  
Ophelia came out of her dream-like state. She then remembered that she was hanging out with Owen in the art room.  
"Hmm? Oh, he had to stay in to make up a history test."  
"Weren't you tutoring him in History?" He said as he applied another stroke of paint to his canvas.  
"I am, but-"  
"Don't move!"  
"Whoops."  
She then remembered that she was modeling for his painting while she waited for Richard.

"For a girl who's technically half dead, you sure move a lot."  
"For a boy who spends most of his time painting, you sure do it _slowly_."  
"Painting takes a lot of time, a lot of focus. You can't simply push a button and sick it on a frame."  
Ophelia's eyes flashed.  
"Are you belittling my medium, Mr. Dodgeson?"  
Owen looked up to the ceiling innocently.  
"I didn't say anything."  
"You better not." She said in a joking mutter.

Owen smiled at her before going back to his painting.  
"You know, this is probably the first time we've hung out together since you started going out with Waltz."  
Ophelia raised an eyebrow.  
"No, really? That couldn't be right."  
"It is, in fact I don't think anyone has seen much of you lately. You're always with Richard, I was starting to think you forgot you had a life outside of him at all."  
"I'm not always with Richard." She defended.  
"Right, I forgot about those ever small windows where he flunks a test or you're home asleep, but none of those are you with your friends."  
Ophelia glared at him with smoldering eyes.

"Jeez, aggressive much?"  
"You would be too if you were losing your friend."

"No one's lost anyone, Owen. So what if I forgot to talk to some people for a few days, it doesn't mean I haven't completely lost touch with the outside world."  
"Oh really, did you know that Darcy met with a breeder for Baskerville? Or that Mick and Wal published one of their comics on the web? Do you even know that Em broke her wrist blading yesterday?"  
Ophelia's eyes went wide.  
"Em broke her wrist!?"

"That's exactly my point, Ophelia, you have completely disappeared. We've lost you to Waltz."  
"Well, I'm sorry, forgive me if I thought about my own happiness first for once in my life! After all this time doing everything for you guys, you think you would _at least _be happy for me and Richard!"  
"I am happy for you! I'm just saying we can both be happy without you being around Richard all the time."  
Both turned to the door when they heard a knock. Richard stood in the threshold with his knuckles to the frame.  
"Am I interrupting something?" Richard said innocently.  
Owen dropped his brush into a cup of water, causing the water to splash and spill over.  
"No, we were just finishing up. Go ahead and take her."

Confusion sprawled across Richard's face, completely oblivious to any reason for Owen's foul mood. He soon shrugged it off and turned to Ophelia.  
"You ready to go, dearest?"  
"Sure thing, Richard." Ophelia scampered off of the little platform Owen had put her on and straight to Richard. She gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
"How was the make up test?"  
"I think it went well, more than I can say for him. What happened?"  
Ophelia turned back to Owen. He was putting away his paint set and taking his cup of brushes to the sink for a thorough cleaning.  
"Nothing, nothing happened. Let's go."  
Richard smiled. He took her hand and led her away. Ophelia looked back to the classroom. She couldn't help but feel guilty for what she had said to Owen, she didn't mean to get him upset. Perhaps she'll apologize to him tomorrow, if he'd still talk to her, that is.

* * *

"Cujo, come back here!"  
Once again, Cujo had escaped his leash and is running rampant across town. And like every time he runs off, Ophelia was the one who had to chase after him before he could cause significant damage. He made his way to the park when she started gaining on him. She pounced and grabbed him and they both rolled into the bushes. While Ophelia was still flat on the ground, Cujo stood on top of her and suffocated her in affectionate slobber.  
"Come on, Cujo, stop it." Ophelia giggled. Cujo made a playful _yip _before he jumped off her and ran off again. Ophelia picked herself off the ground and headed in the same direction he went off to.  
"If you weren't the cutest little devil, you would be in the ghost pound by now." Ophelia said with a laugh.  
She went through the bushes until a faint light came to her eyes. She saw the light was from one of the many street lamps that lined the concrete path of the park. Underneath the light she saw a bench with two people entangled in each other's embrace. She turned invisible, embarrassed by spying on such an intimate moment. She saw Cujo scampered in front of the couple, sitting up in his eager "play with me" position. He let out a single bark that startled the couple. They pulled away from each other, the sight of the boy made Ophelia's heart shatter.

It was Richard… her Richard…. her Richard… was in the park at nighttime…. kissing another girl.  
She shot her hand to her mouth. She had a desperate need to breath, but the air choked in her throat.  
It had to be someone else, someone that looked like him. It couldn't be him. She kept telling herself that over and over but she couldn't deceive herself. It was really him.

* * *

Kitty and Trix found her deep within the Ghost Zone. She had beside her a box of things which she would take out, throw up in the air, and try to shoot it with her ghost rays. The masses of floating debris and handful of unharmed objects told the two that she had been there for quite a while.  
"Phé, what are you doing all the way out here so late?" Kitty scolded, "You're mother called me to ask where you were, she's worried sick about you."  
Ophelia said nothing, she just continued to pull stuff out of the box to shoot.  
"Ophelia, are you even listening to me? Ophelia!"  
"Perhaps we should call Richard," Trix suggested, "he'd certainly calm her down."  
At the sound of his name, Ophelia calmed from her anger and stopped shooting. Tears swelled, her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Kitty and Trix immediately ran to her side.  
"Nice going, Trixie."  
"What did I do? All I did was mention Richard-"  
Ophelia cried harder. The ghost girls exchanged looks.  
"Ophelia, did something happen between you and Richard."  
Ophelia couldn't stop sobbing.  
"He-he…I saw…kissing…cheating…on me!"  
"What!"  
"Cujo…park…bushes…other. girl…"  
"It's okay, you don't have to tell us any more."  
The three of them sat on the ground looking ahead at the empty space beyond the desolate rock.  
"I can't believe he'd do that to you. I mean, after all you did for him. And you two seemed to really like each other."  
"You should have seen them at school, they're practically inseparable."  
"Apparently we weren't if he found some other girl to suck face with!" Ophelia screeched. She hugged her knees. Her eye glass from the tears that kept trickling down her cheeks.  
"What did I do wrong, you guys? Did I not give him enough? That girl looked like a junior, did he think I was too young for him? Not pretty enough? Why did he even want to be with me in the first place!" She dried her eyes. With a sniffle, she added: "Maybe, maybe I'm just not human enough."

Trix and Kitty's eyes met. Kitty rubbed Ophelia back in a soothing, comforting motion.  
"Hey, Ophelia, hey, it's not your fault. You've done nothing wrong, you're-"  
"If you're going to give me the 'you're perfect just the way you are' speech, I'd rather not hear it right now."  
"Fine, I'll just get to the bottom line: Richard's a jerk. He's a creep and a lying pig. You deserve better, way better."  
"He should never show his face around the Ghost Zone again," Trix said, "If he knows what's good for him."

"Wait until your old man deals with him," Kitty said, "He'd wish he never laid eyes on that other girl."  
Ophelia let out a small laugh.  
"That does make me feel a little better."  
"There you go. You wanna keep destroying his stuff."  
Ophelia nodded.  
"Here, we'll throw them for you. Just give us the word."  
Ophelia smile and nodded again.  
Trix grabbed the box and both she and Kitty pulled out something to throw.  
"So, what are you going to do?" Trix asked.

Ophelia smiled her mischievous smile that both of the girls came to know so well.  
"You'll see tomorrow. Pull!"

* * *

Richard didn't see Ophelia at school that morning. It worried him greatly since they would always meet up in the morning before class. What if she got sick and had to be put under quarantine? What if a bus hit her before she could turn intangible? What if she got abducted and held hostage while under obligation of the Contract, again.

He asked her friends, they didn't know. Owen, that boy who had that desperate crush on Ophelia, gave him an evil glare.

"Did I do something wrong?" Richard asked.

"I don't know, did you?" Owen said with a bite Richard never knew he had.

"What are you talking about?"  
"I'm just saying that you two spend a lot of time together, a _lot_ of time. Maybe during that time you would see what could've made her cry so much."

"Cry?"

"The Fentons' house is right next door to mine. Ophelia's room is right across the way from mine. When she cries, I hear it, and a heard a lot of crying last night. With _your _name mentioned between the tears."

"My fair Ophelia is upset with me? I did not do anything." At least not anything she knows about.

"Listen, Ophelia's my best friend. I've known her longer than you have, three months sure, but it's still longer. She's a nice, caring, sensitive girl, and I wouldn't want to see her heart get broken by a jerk like you. So, as her friend, I am warning you. If you've done anything to hurt her, if you _ever_ do anything to hurt her, I will hurt you _worse_."

"Such words for someone who claims to be just her friend." Richard said with a sly smile.

Owen's face flushed.

"Excuse me?"

"I know pine for her. Ophelia knows as well. The fair she tried to hide our relationship so it wouldn't break your little heart. I couldn't care less about how your adoration for her, because you are no threat to me. She is mine, and I am hers. I have won the suit, and you just have to live with that." Owen was taken aback by the comment. Richard let out a light chuckle before he continued. "Your threats are cute, but we both know that she would do anything to protect the people she cares about. Imagine what she does when she loves them."

Owen's face darkened. _Now _he looks like he could pose a real threat.

"She doesn't love you."

But not a good threat.

"I think she does, and I think you cannot handle it. And if you cannot handle seeing her sweet face smile because of me, then I advise you never see her face again. So if you will excuse me, I need to find _my _sweetheart. Do you not hear her lips just begging for mine?"

He walked away, leaving a stunned Owen standing at the steps. He scoured the halls, finding no sign of her. When the bell rang, alerting him that he had five minutes to get to his first period class, he finally saw her. She was with her human girl friends, talking to them happily as ever. He didn't understand what Owen was talking about. She didn't look like she had spent the whole night crying over him, she looked perfectly happy. The girls dispersed as soon as they heard the bell. Ophelia eyes finally fell to him. Her eyes flashed with a sweet yet icy smile. It was her mischievous smile she would give to someone in her fights. He had never seen in directed at him. Now he was worried.

"Richard."

It was Courtney, the girl he was seeing on the side. His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced back at Ophelia's direction. She was gone. He was relieved. The last thing he needed was for Phé to see the other girl, especially since he had worked so hard for her not to know she even existed.

"Oh, hello Courtney." he asked while cooling his nerves. He just then notice Courtney's anger. "Is something wrong?"

He then noticed the box in her arms. It had an enveloped taped to the top of it with his name written in neat little cursive letters. Ophelia's neat little cursive letters.

"That Phantom girl just walked right up to me, handed me this box and said 'Give this to my ex-boyfriend Richie, he's all yours now.' Is there something you're not telling me? Were you really her boyfriend?"

Richard ignored her and took the envelope from the box. He opened it to find a note in equally neat cursive letters as the ones on the envelope.

_We're through._

_Here's your stuff back._

_-Ophelia_

"_Hello? _Richard, I'm _talking_ to you! What is going on! Have you been seeing someone else? Or was I the someone else?"

He put the note back in the envelope. He took the box from Courtney.

"It is nothing for you to worry about. I'll see you later, okay?"

He walked off, leaving her screams of protest behind him. When he got to his locker, he opened the box. Just like the note said, it was all the stuff he left behind in her house. Or at least, what was left of them. They were all burned and broken into pieces, as if they were al shot by lasers. Or a ghost ray. He could hardly tell what was left in the rubble.

Irritated, he shut the box and opened his locker to put it away. When he opened the door he was toppled over by the many ashes and burned objects inside. A good amount were pictures of him with Ophelia. Some were intact, but some were just borders and a big hole where a ghost ray shot through. When he sat up, a note fluttered onto his lap. He picked it up and read it.

_Here's all my stuff that I don't want anymore._

_P.S.- _

_I left the hero shots intact in your new girlfriend's locker._

_Thought she should know._


	15. The Unexpected

_We are never ever, ever getting back together_

Ophelia banged her head against the table as her phone went off. For the twelfth time this morning, Richard was calling her, and for the twelfth time this morning, she was going to ignore the call and delete whatever ridiculous voicemail he was going to leave behind. For days, he has been trying to get her to talk to him. You think he would leave her alone after her father had "talked" with him after the break up. All it did was get him to stop coming to her house. _  
_

_We-ee are never ever, ever getting back together_

"You gonna get that, Phé?" said Owen as he grabbed a seat next to her at the lunch table outside.  
"I'd rather not." Ophelia grumbled from under the wood. "It's Richard."  
"Why is he still calling you? I thought you two were over."

_You go talk to your friends talk  
to my friends talk to me_

"Apparently my note, burning his stuff and returning it, and my dad re-killing him wasn't clear enough for him."

_But we are never ever, ever getting back together._

"Give me that." He grabbed her phone before she could say anything and answered. "Hey Richard? This is Owen. She never wants to see you again, get over it!"

"Because she doesn't want to talk to you."  
….

"No, I am not her boyfriend and I can't read her mind."

"Because then she would've answered your phones call and not have assigned a Taylor Swift song as your ringtone."  
….

"What do you mean 'who's Taylor Swift'?!"  
Ophelia snatched the phone out of his hand and hung it up.  
"Thank you, Sir Dodgeson, I think you may've made the situation worse."  
"I was just trying to help." He said guiltily.  
Ophelia smiled.  
"And I appreciate it, but there isn't really anything you can help with. He's not going to leave me alone until I talk to him."  
"So why don't you talk to him? Or is there some kind of girl logic I'm not getting here?"  
"No, it's just….how can I stand in the same room with him after what he did? It makes me sick at the sound of his name."

_We are never ever, ever getting back together._

Ophelia threw the phone across the schoolyard.  
"Ow!"  
"Uh, oh" Ophelia closed her eyes and crossed her fingers. "Please don't be a teacher, please don't be a teacher, please don't be a teacher."  
"Fenton!"  
"Damn!"  
Coach Baxter walked up to her, one hand held her phone while the other was rubbing the spot on his head the phone hit.  
"Care to explain how your phone ended up at the back of my head?"  
"Um…your head got in the way of my phone?"  
Baxter let out a sarcastic laugh.  
"Funny, you can work on the rest of your act in detention."  
"Great" Ophelia grumbled.  
"And you won't be seeing this until Friday." With that, Baxter put Ophelia's phone in her pocket and walked away. Ophelia's head returned to the surface of the table.  
"Just when this day couldn't get any worse…"  
Owen gave a reassuring pat on the back.  
"Hey look on the bright side: they don't allow cell phones during detention. What's the worst that can happen to you while you're in detention?"  
"You do realize when you say stuff like that the universe takes that as a challenge?"

* * *

She got to the classroom that was holding detention early in hopes she'd get let out early as well. She sat herself by the window, yet her eyes went straight to the clock. Her fingers thrummed against the desk in tempo with the very loud second hand. Detention hadn't even started yet and she already felt bored and miserable. But she did have to admit that Owen was right. With her cell phone gone, she didn't have to deal with Richard calls.  
Suddenly, Ophelia hiccupped a blue wisp. Her eyes flashed in irritation. Richard was close by, she could sense it.  
"Looks like the universe is accepting Owen's challenge." Ophelia muttered to herself.  
"Is this the classroom where detention is being held?"  
She looked up, her eyes widened. There was Richard, at the door, going in for detention in the same room as her. The teacher holding detention took the slip of paper Richard held out.  
"You're in the right place, Mr. Waltz, go and take your seat anywhere."  
Ophelia's eyes and she got up from her seat.  
"Mr. Tesla, is there another classroom I can do my time in?"  
"Sit down, Fenton, you're stuck with me today."  
"But-"  
"I said sit down!"  
Ophelia sank to her seat..  
"Yes sir." She said in a somewhat childish despair.  
Richard took his seat next to her. He smiled at her as if they were still friends, Ophelia stared straight out to the window.  
"Come on," Richard whispered to her, "You have to talk to me now."  
Ophelia said nothing, did nothing, only stared out the window.  
"I heard you had gotten detention today, so I thought if I did something to land myself here too, you would have no choice but to talk to me. Do you want to know what I did to send me here?"  
Ophelia said nothing, did nothing, only stared out the window.  
"I stole a phone."  
Richard put something on her desk and slid it into Ophelia's line of vision. Against her better judgment, she looked down. It was her cell phone, he had stolen it to return it to her.  
"I heard the ringtone you gave me, it is rather humorous."  
Ophelia said nothing, and continued to stare out the window. She took the phone off her desk and dropped it in her bag.

"You've accepted my peace offering, you must talk to me now."  
Ophelia still said nothing.  
"Please Ophelia, I'm sorry. I really am sorry for what I have done. I never meant to hurt you, I just…fell into some bad temptations. Look, there is no way I can explain that will make me look any better, I know that. You had done so much for me, sacrificed so much for my own happiness, and I repaid you with infidelity. I am just sad that it took me losing you to understand that as well how much of a betrayal it was to you. Courtney truly meant nothing to me, it is you who I care for. I am not going to ask you for forgiveness, because even a lowly worm like me knows that I do not deserve such a blessing from an angel like you. So I will be satisfied with you at least hearing what I have to say. And if you listened to any of this, then I thank you for your blessing."

Ophelia looked at him from the corner of her eye. She breathed out a laugh and smiled.  
"You say the cheesiest things. It is a true miracle that I went out with you in the first place."  
Richard looked at her surprised, but quickly melted into a smile.

"You just spoke to me."  
"I have to, if I didn't you'd keep talking like that."

They both laughed at Richard's expense.  
"Keep it down, you two!" Shouted Mr. Tesla.  
"Yes, sir." They said almost in unison.

They stared down at their desks. Ophelia then looked over to him.  
"Listen, Richard," she whispered, "I still haven't forgiven you for what you did, but I am grateful that you went through so much trouble to talk to me. So how about I give you a chance to make it up to me. A chance to earn my forgiveness, what do you say?"

Richard looked like she had just told him he won the lottery.  
"Really? Then how about I start today."  
He took out his notebook and scribbled something down. He then tore the piece of paper out of the book, folded it up and handed it to Ophelia.  
"Meet me here at nine tonight. I'll show you just how much you mean to me."  
Ophelia looked at the paper hesitantly, her fingers dance around it. After a few moments, she took the paper out of his hands and put it in her pocket.  
"I hope I'm not making the wrong decision here."  
Richard smiled, she saw something there that she couldn't quite place.  
"We'll just have to wait and see, now won't we?"

* * *

Owen stayed in after school to help paint a set of the school play. When he finished, he decided to wait a little longer for Ophelia to get out of detention. He made to the room holding detention and looked through the little window in the door.  
Owen's eyes nearly popped out of his head.  
There was only one other kid in the classroom: the cheating jerk that broke his best friend's heart. He was sitting next to said best friend…and they were actually talking to each other? A friendly talk?  
"What the hell!"  
The two kids heard his outcry and turned to the door. Owen immediately ducked under the window in hopes that they couldn't see him. What was Waltz doing there? And why is Ophelia talking to him when she wanted nothing to do with him? Owen was practically nauseated by the emotional turmoil inside him. Now he was definitely going to wait until detention let out.

He sat on ground across the door and pulled his sketchpad and pencil. He didn't know what he was going to draw, he just wanted to do something to pass the time and clear his mind. He couldn't focus enough to do a proper drawing so he filled the page with doodles instead. His small, mundane and meaningless scribbles soon turned into cartoons of himself and Richard. All of them involved him inflicting bodily harm upon Richard in creative ways. He finished drawing of him shooting Richard out of a canon when the door opened.  
"So I'll see you there, right?" he heard Richard say.  
"Sure, " was Ophelia's response, "I'll be there."  
"Thank you so much for giving me this chance, Ophelia. You won't regret it."  
"For both our sakes, I hope you are right."  
Owen finally looked up in time to see Richard walk away and Ophelia wave goodbye to him. Richard caught Owen looking at him and smiled at him. That smug bastard! Owen was planning out his next cartoon: an iron boxing glove to that smug little face.

He turned back to Ophelia, who seemed to have just then noticed he was there.  
"Oh, hey Owen, were you waiting out here the whole time?"  
"I stayed in to paint a set, so no, not the whole time. What was Richard doing in there with you?"  
Ophelia giggled like he just told her a joke. If it was, then he certainly didn't get it.  
"Oh, he heard that I got detention so he got himself in trouble so I would have no choice to talk to him."  
"And you actually talked to him? And what was that about meeting him at someplace."  
"Mostly it was him talking at me. And he wanted to make up for cheating on me and wants me to meet him at this place for some sort of surprise."  
As she spoke, she pulled a slip of paper out of a pocket on her denim jacket and handed it to Owen. He took it and read the address.  
"917 Maple Street? The abandoned house we had to decorate on Halloween?"  
Ophelia took the paper back and inspected it.  
"Yeah, remember, that's where we first met him. I guess he's hoping nostalgia will help win me over."  
"I really don't think you should go, Ophelia. I can't explain it, but something about this doesn't feel right. I don't trust him at all and I'm rather surprised you don't feel the same."  
Ophelia smiled.  
"Owen, you worry too much. I haven't forgiven him for what he did, and I'm sure as hell not getting back together with him. I'm just giving him a little chance at redeeming himself. Whether he blows it or not, we'll both be satisfied and he'll finally leave me alone. You understand what I'm saying?"  
Frankly, Owen didn't.  
"Is this more weird girl logic that I'm not getting?"  
Ophelia rolled her eyes.

"Just get that there's nothing to worry about."  
"Alright, just let me go with you just in case something goes wrong."  
Ophelia giggled a little.  
"You don't need to, I can take care of myself just fine. I have ghost powers, remember?"

Owen cast his eyes to the ground.  
"I guess so."  
"Thanks, I appreciate your concern. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"  
"Alright, see you then."  
With that, Ophelia scurried off out of school. As she did so, she failed to notice the scrap of paper fall out of her pocket. Owen picked it up and was about to call after her, but he stopped himself. He looked at the address scribbled onto it. There was a time written underneath it.  
"She already knows where it is," he assured himself. "She doesn't need this."  
He stuck the paper in his pocket, put his sketchbook in his backpack, and left the hallway.

* * *

Danny went out for patrol as soon as night fell, just as he has always done on his days away from space. Tonight was a particularly boring one with nothing to do but fly around. He even checked with Valorie, who had not even a misdemeanor ghost crime to deal with. Perhaps a couple more hours of this and he can go home, by that time his wife would be back from work and they can both deal with Ophelia getting detention, again.  
"Mr. Fenton! Mr. Fenton!"  
Danny looked down and his agitation grew. Richard Waltz, the ghost boy that broke his daughter's heart and refused to leave her alone, was making his way up to him. Danny groaned and rolled his eyes, he did not want to deal with this boy tonight.  
"What do you want, Waltz?"  
"It's Ophelia, she-"  
"I thought we've talked about you staying away from my daughter, or do you need a refresher?" He flashed his eyes to add to the threat. He didn't even smile as he saw Waltz flinch, he was too fed up with him.  
"No, it's not like that. She's in trouble. She got into a fight and got really hurt."  
"What! Where?"  
"It's this old abandoned house across town."  
"Show me!"  
Without a word, Richard sped off to what Danny hoped where Ophelia was. He followed her past the park, the school, the mall, all the way across the river to Elmerton. In the back of his mind he wondered what Ophelia was doing all the way here, and how Richard knew where to find her. However, he think to deeply about those questions. Ophelia was hurt and he needed to save her, that's all that mattered.

Finally, they phased through the roof of a very old, crumbling townhouse. Danny generated a beam of ghost energy in his hand to light the pitch-black room. From looking around, he imagined the floorboards breaking under his daughter, or something fell on her before she could turn intangible.  
He turned to Waltz.  
"Where is she?" he demanded, his face stern and void of humor.  
"She's in the other room, hurry, she must have fallen unconscious."  
Richard pointed to a parlor across from them. Without any hesitation, Danny flew straight in.  
"Ophelia!" he shouted, his voice returning in a harsh echo. "Ophelia where are you!"  
There was no answer. Danny turned the ball of energy in his hand from green to white and tossed it up to the ceiling. Light filled the small room, revealing it to be completely empty.  
"She's not here," Danny told Richard, "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"I am quite certain, Mr. Phantom."  
Danny turned to Richard and found him putting on a gas mask.  
"What's with the mask?" Danny asked.  
Richard's reply was muffled under the mask, Danny could barely understand what he had said.  
"Did you say 'smoke bomb'?"  
Richard nodded. He pulled something from behind his back. It was a cylindrical object that was spewing green smoke from both ends. He put it on the ground and let it roll across the room, filling the air with the gas. Danny recognized the device: it was developed by his parents long ago. It used a knock out gas that affected both ghosts and humans. Danny couldn't hold breath in time and started to feel woozy. His knees buckled and fell to the ground. He could barely hold himself up, he felt so weak.  
"W-what are you doing?" Danny could barely drawl out.  
Another muffled response, he only managed to hear two words: "Boss's orders"  
"W-what…." Danny's arms wobbled and he couldn't hold himself up any longer. He fell on his side and rolled to his back. The last thing he saw before slipping out of consciousness was Waltz looking down at him. He could see the ghost smiling through his damned gas mask.

* * *

Ophelia made it to the old house with little issue. It was creepier and more desolate looking than she remembered, especially in the night and without any decorations to light it up. Outside of the context of their history, she would've considered a red flag. But she did promise to give him a chance, and so she phased through the gates and went up to the abandoned house.

"Richard?" she called out. She heard her voice being bounced round the rooms like a rubber ball. There was no response. She turned on her insight to check if there was anyone else in the house at all. She found his psyche somewhere on the second floor. She flew up and phased through the ceiling. The hallway was pitch black, the only light came from the faint glow of Ophelia's own being.  
"Richard? Are you in here, hello?" she called out again. Still no response, she could see that he didn't even try to move from where he was. Ophelia followed the light of his psyche a room at the end of the hallway.  
"Richard, I do not know what game you're playing at here, but it's not funny."  
She tried to open the door to find that the room was locked. So she then phased through the door and into the room. The room was lit by a few candles strewn here and there, it was only enough to see how big the room was. It made her think of altars where people performed human sacrifice rituals, not something she wanted to think about someone she was suppose to forgive. There was something in the center of the room, though she couldn't quite tell what it was from where she was. She walked up to the center of the room and knelt down to see the shape. They were stacks of notebooks and photographs, opened and scattered as if someone had just looked at them. In the light of her own glow, she saw that the pictures of herself. Some were from when she and Richard were dating, the ones he had with him and therefore she could not destroy. Others were from further distances, shot from farther away and cropped in. They showed her in her fights when she used her powers, with a few showing more mundane scenes. Ophelia lost all color at the thought of someone following her around to take these photos.  
She picked up one of the books and read it.

_She has a lot to hide, that is clear to everyone, but every kiss I take peels away another layer of her defense and shows me deeper secrets….  
_

The book fell out of Ophelia's hands, she couldn't read anymore of it. Her eyes dimmed and faded to a pale shade of green that was almost white. Inside her head she was screaming.

_Red flag! Red flag! RED FLAG!_

She snapped out her shock and quickly got up to leave. She turned and came face to face with Richard. She screamed and jumped back, startled at his sudden appearance.  
"I'm sorry, dearest," he said sweetly "Didn't mean to scare you."  
"W-what is all this?" she asked, gesturing to the books and photos at her feet.  
"Oh, just a few mementos of our time together." He said. "Do you remember this room, Ophelia? It was the room we were assigned to decorate together. It looks quite different after they took everything down."  
"I-I guess."  
Ophelia kept a hand behind her back. She hoped the room wasn't too dark that he would notice her charging up a ghost ray.  
"Yes, all the hard work we did. How easily it was taken down. I guess you can kind of say this room is a symbol of us: how easily we fell apart."  
"I never thought of it that way."

"You see, I worked so hard to get you to like me, to get you to trust me enough for you to share your innermost secrets. And then one little kiss managed to reduce all that hard work to nothing. You can imagine how angry he was when I told them we were over?"  
"He?"

"My boss, the one who sent me to you. Would you like to see him? I believe you have already met…"  
Ophelia shot him with a ghost ray before he could say more. She ran straight to the door and opened it. Right when she was about to cross the threshold, Richard forced her back into the room by her hair. With a forceful yank, she fell backwards into his arms.  
"Now why would you do that, my angel?" he said to her in an eerie calm that set her on edge.

"Let me go!" she screeched as she tried to claw out of his grip.

"Why? Remember how you loved being safe in my arms?" He was stroking her head as if she was a sweet little kitten. "You never wanted me to let you go."

Ophelia kicked and struggled and squirmed and did everything she could to get him to let her go. She started to scream when Richard cover her mouth.  
"Now, now, sweetheart, you'll wake the neighbors. Perhaps you need to rest."

A great shock of ghost energy went through her body. She screamed through his hand. When he stopped shocking her, he let her fall to the ground. Her vision started to blur, she could barely see him kneeling over her and stroking her cheek.

"Rest up, dearest, you're going to need all your energy for what he has planned for you…."

Then it all went black.

* * *

Danny did not come to slowly to the sounds of machines buzzing and whirring like the ones he grew up with his entire childhood. He did not slowly process that he was in a standing position and nor did he internally cringe at the familiar feeling of being strapped down to some form of examination table. He did not slowly open his eyes to find that he was indeed inside a laboratory. Danny did not get the pleasure of a slow awakening, instead he was awakened by the intense burning sensation of being strapped down to said table by ectoranium cuffs.

He made a small outcry of pain and snapped his eyes open. He looked around to confirm to himself that he was indeed in a lab. A downward glance revealed the person strapping him down. He knew better than to expect that no good ghost punk Richard Waltz to be the culprit, ghosts couldn't touch ectoranium after all, but he did not expect his mortal enemy to be the one standing there.  
"Vlad!"  
Yes Vlad, in human form, stood there, locking his cuffs into place.  
"Oh, Daniel, did I wake you?" he said with a sly smile, "I'm awfully sorry."

Danny struggled against the restraints, allowing the metal to burn more of his skin.  
"What's going on! Let me go!"  
"After all this time planning the demise of you and your child? I think not!"  
"What have you done to Ophelia!"  
Vlad stepped away and black rings change him from Masters to Plasmius before Danny's eyes.  
"Nothing, at least not yet. My assistant is fetching her for me as we speak."  
"Waltz? He was working for you-" Danny was going to say more but the pain of the cuffs overcame him.  
"Honestly Daniel, you should know better than to stay in your ghostly form while restrained with ectoranium cuffs. You'd think you would have at least a _small _amount of your mother's intellect."  
Danny gave Vlad an angry scowl as he let the white rings change him into the human Danny Fenton. The cuffs still hurt, but it was a manageable pain.  
"You hired a ghost to spy on my family by dating my daughter? You are a sick old man, Plamius!"  
Vlad scowled for a moment before returning to his aloof and arrogant demeanor.  
"Well, I never intended him to date the girl, only for him to befriend her. He was only meant to get close enough to get information."  
"Yeah, he got close alright."  
"He only sought the opportunity when Ophelia gave it to him. Rather clever of him, don't you think? If he hadn't, I wouldn't have known about that special little power she had."  
"What power?"  
Vlad looked rather surprised, but still arrogant enough to make Danny want to punch his lights out.  
"What? You did not know? How she can read a person's very being just by looking at them? How she can speak their language by hearing a word or learn their past by a shake of their hand? How she can tell secrets of her own self through a kiss? Well, I doubt she knows of that last part herself."  
Danny lost his anger for a moment, it was replaced with parental concern.  
"Ophelia could do all that and she never told me?"  
"Well, it looks like your enemy knows your only child more than you do. That's rather pathetic, don't you think?"  
Danny growled, his eyes flashing green. Even the small amount of ghost energy intensified the pain from the cuffs, but he was too furious to care.  
"Leave Ophelia out of this! She has done nothing for you to harm her-"  
"Yet! She hasn't done anything to invoke my wrath _yet_! But she will, I know she will."  
"What makes you so sure?"

"Because she's _your _child! Your child and _Jack Fenton's _gradchild! All you Fentons have done is steal from me and ruin my life. Jack stole my one true love and you stole my reputation, what says that your child won't follow her father's footsteps and take the last thing I have in this world."  
"What could she possibly take from you that would mean so much?"  
"_My life!_"

Danny was in a stunned silence. The furious green blinked out of his eyes, returning them to sky blue. He did not expect this.  
"I thought you were mad, but I never thought you were this insane. You truly believe that my daughter will kill you just because she's _my _kid?"  
"Eventually, she will. Whether it be intentional or no, she will be responsible for my death, as well as the death of others. She is more powerful than she can comprehend, even more than you or I have yet to comprehend. Do you think she will be able to contain that power without some consequence? You won't be able to guide her, you can't even get her to show her all of her powers. She will destroy everything we hold dear unless we can destroy her first."  
"I will never let you hurt her!"  
Vlad smiled, Danny could hear him laugh under his breath.  
"Fortunately for me, I don't need your permission. I don't need anything from you but an audience."  
Danny heard the sound of doors opening and closing. Vlad looked over to the direction of the doors and his smile grew wider, bearing his awful fangs to glint in the artificial light.  
"Ah, perfect timing."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Waltz walk in with something draped over his arms. He couldn't see clearly just what it was until Richard set it down on the table across from him. Danny struggled harder against the restraints when he recognized Ophelia lying unconscious across from him.  
"What did you do to her!" He demanded.

"Just a small shock to put her to sleep," Richard chirped, "Nothing to worry about."  
He stroked her cheek lovingly and added. "I would never want to put my angel through more pain than necessary."  
"Don't you dare touch her!" Danny spat, the cuffs burned again as his eyes flashed green.

Richard smiled as he strapped her onto the table.  
"Don't make them too loose, Richard," Vlad told him, "We don't want her to slip out of them."

"Yes sir," was Richard's obedient reply.  
Danny glared from Waltz to Plasmius with increasing vehemence.  
"What are you going to do to her?"

Vlad gave Danny a sinister grin as he walked over to the control panel right beside Ophelia.

"I believe the root of all our problems lies in the girl's ghost energy. The poor thing has such a heavy burden to bear with all those powers, I believe it is only kind to lift it from her. And I have just the device to do it."  
With a push of a button, the sound of mechanical hinges and hydraulics came from above. Danny looked up to find a device seemingly no different from a common laser, but he knew there was something more sinister to it than that. When the device was fully lowered and made no more sound, Vlad continued.  
"This will drain Ophelia of every last drop of ecto-energy in her body, leaving her with only her humanity to bear."

Fear stabbed Danny deep within his chest.  
"You can't do that, her genetic structure is too unstable. It will kill her!"

"Will it now?" Vlad said, completely unsurprised. "Then I suppose I will be doing the world the honor of ridding it of one less Fenton."

Danny tried harder still to slip out of his bonds. He transformed back into Phantom in hopes of using his own ghost energy to break his bonds, all it did was burn him worse.  
"Please Vlad, don't do this! Your problem is with me, it has always been with me! Please, kill me if it means you'll let her live!"

Vlad laughed as if this whole thing was some amusing joke. Richard joined in too, they seemed to be enjoying whatever Danny wasn't getting.

"As if I would let you live. Ha! No, no you are going to watch Ophelia suffer, and as soon as she has breathed her last breath and her heart beats no more, I will dispose of you _personally_." Vlad charged his fist with ghostly energy to add to the threat. "Not to worry, Daniel, you won't suffer any less than your child, I'll make sure of it."

Vlad waved off the energy like it was smoke. He then turned to Waltz.

"Richard, wake her up. The girl at least deserves to exchange her last words with her father."  
Waltz nodded. He charged his hand with blue energy. He touched her shoulder with his index finger, giving her a small shock. Ophelia's eyes snapped open and she gasped in reaction to the shock. She tried to bolt upwards, but was thrown back down by the straps. Ophelia's eyes darted around, trying to process where she was and what was happening. Her eyes stopped and her head turned to Vlad.  
"Vlad!" Danny could see her eyes flashed, although her face was away from him. She turned over to Richard. "You were working for Vlad!"

Richard smiled. He put his hand on her face to brush away her bangs from her eyes.  
"Are you really that surprised, Ophelia, what other reason would I be near anything like you?"

"But how could you-how did I not-"  
"How could you not see me with that little gift of yours?"

Ophelia's eyes were dimmer.  
"How do you know about that?" she whispered hoarsely.

So Vlad wasn't lying, Danny thought, she actually has a power he did not know about.

"You should be careful of whom you kiss, Ophelia, those lips tell a lot of secrets."

She was silent, probably trying to process what that meant.  
"You mean, every time I kissed you….I transmitted a piece of my psyche to you?"

"Psyche? Is that what you call it?" Richard's hand went from her forehead to her cheek. "How adorable."

"But how? How couldn't I read you? How couldn't I see you for what you were?"  
Richard shrugged.

"I guess I can deceive people at a psychic level, or maybe you aren't as good at judging someone's character as you think you are. You can't help but wonder what would've happened if we went all the wa-"

Richard let out a cry of pain and pulled his hand away. It wasn't too hard for Danny to figure out that Ophelia had bit him.  
That's his girl.

"You little brat!" Richard said before striking her.  
"Lay off her!" Danny cried out.  
Ophelia turned her head to him. Her eyes flashed a pale lavender at the sight of him.

"Dad?"

"It's alright, honey, I'll get us out of this, I promise."

"Come now, Daniel," said Vlad, "You shouldn't lie to your daughter in her last moments of life."  
Ophelia was breathing heavily, her eyes were misting.

"Dad, what is he talking about? What's happening?"

Danny was about to say something, but Vlad stopped him. He went over to her.  
"What should've happened ten years ago, my dear child. You should've joined me when I gave you the chance. I would've been such a great father to you, you wouldn't have suffered when you were with me." His fingers combed through her hair, mimicking the tenderness of a father. "I would've protected you from the world and all its hatred. But no, you chose to be a Fenton, you chose him!" He turned her head towards Danny. "And now he can do nothing but watch you die a slow and painful death before he loses his own life. Just know, girl, that this could've easily been avoided if you had made the right choice that night."

Ophelia's eyes misted. Vlad's hand was still on her face so she still had to look at her father. Danny could see fear in her eyes. She was pleading, pleading so desperately for him to save her. If only he could tell her in a way both of them could believe.

"Please, Vlad," said Ophelia, he could hear it in her voice that she was fighting back tears. "I've never done anything to you. Please, just let me go!"

Vlad lost a bit of his smile. He turned her head towards him.  
"Honestly, Ophelia, I had expected a lot more fight out of you than this. I'm quite disappointed, Daniel should've taught you to face your demise much more valiantly than this."  
"Go to hell, Plasmius!" Danny spat.  
"After you, my dear friend." Vlad replied with so much arrogance that made Danny desperate to break out of his ties and punch his face in.  
"Now, Ophelia, dear," Vlad continued with a patronizing tone. "Don't you want to say goodbye to your father? Even a creature like you deserves to give a proper farewell."

Ophelia said nothing. By the purple light, Danny could tell she was staring him down with every ounce of rebellion she had left in her.

"No final words? Even more disappointing. How about you Daniel? Surely you must have some last words to say to your only child."

Danny said nothing, only flashing his eyes at him with deadly vehemence. Neither of them were going to say goodbye, neither of them were going to give Vlad the satisfaction of hearing them admit defeat.

"Nothing? Neither of you want to say your farewells? Pity. You're almost sucking the fun out of all this. _Almost_."

"Come on, Phé," Said Richard sweetly, "You don't want to say anything to your dear father. You spent most of our relationship endlessly talking, now would be a good time to say something."

Ophelia still said nothing, but instead spat in his face. Danny couldn't help but smile.

Richard looked furious, both his hands glowing blue. He seemed ready to strangle her.  
"Waltz, contain yourself." Vlad commanded, "I will not allow you to harm her before I start the procedure."

Ever so reluctantly, Richard obeyed. His hand stopped glowing and fell back to his sides. Vlad smiled and returned to the control panel operating the machine.

"Now, since neither of you will say your last words, we might as well start the procedure." Vlad hit a few keys and the machine hummed to life. The end of the laser started to glow and spark. Ophelia, the dear thing, tried to hide her terror, but even from where Danny was standing he could see it clear as day.

"I suggest you try not to blink, Daniel," Vlad told him, "I won't want to miss a moment of this."

With that, Vlad hit one more key, and Ophelia screams echoed off every corner of the lair.

"Ophelia!"


	16. Finally!

For a moment, Danny was frozen in shock. There he was, strapped to a table by ectoranium cuffs that was burning his non-corporeal flesh, watching his only child getting the life, or rather afterlife, sucked out of her by a invention of his arch enemy. His eardrums were pierced by Ophelia's screams. By the sound of it, whatever pain Danny himself was going through from the ectoranium was nothing compared to what Ophelia was feeling.  
"Ophelia!" he screamed out.  
Vlad, the sadistic mastermind behind it all, looked up at him with a heinous smile. He was enjoying this, Danny could see it clearly. But it wasn't because of the girl's physical suffering, though knowing the lowly , heartless creature he had some joy in it. No, his true source was that Danny, his long-hated enemy, was there to watch helplessly as he destroyed what he held more dear than his own life (of he would have only a few minutes of).  
Danny struggled against the cuffs, causing more pain. He saw Vlad saying something to him, but he couldn't hear him over Ophelia. In a sad way he was glad, he didn't want to hear him gloating over their demise.  
He looked to Ophelia. She was writhing as if it electrocuted her as well. The straps holding her down kept her from any violent jerking movements. The scars sprouted across her skin, they seemed to be growing like the flowers they emulated. Tears were streaming down the side of her face and sweat beaded her forehead. Her screams where getting hoarser and hoarser, until they were mere moans in pain. To Danny's shock, her hair was changing from white to grey, she was starting to lose too much of her ghost energy.  
That's when something in him clicked.  
He struggled harder against the cuffs, harder than he ever thought he could go. He heard cracking sounds, so low and quiet that he knew it was something internal. The cracking was followed by the horrendous creaking of protesting metal. He felt the binds loosen and kept going. Then, finally, he broke out of the cuffs.  
Vlad was too focused on Ophelia to notice anything amiss, and so was his lackey Richard. Danny used that time to shoot both of them with a ghost ray, sending them flying to the opposite wall. Danny flew like a lightning flash to the control panel operating the weapon killing his daughter. Right when he got a good look and had a faint idea how the thing worked he got knocked aside by a magenta ghost ray. Danny landed on his feet and slid to a stop, his hands charged and ready to fight. His green eyes glowing violently at Vlad, who was doing a fairly good job hiding his surprise.

"How did you manage to break out of those bonds?" Vlad asked in a tone Danny could not quite place. Danny said nothing, Vlad sneered.

"Very well, I may have underestimated you Daniel, but it certainly doesn't mean either of you are getting out of this alive."

Vlad shot ghost rays from both his hands at Danny. Danny put up a shield just in time to block his attack, and used it to bounce his shots back at him. Vlad phased through the floor, completely missing the attack. Danny didn't see that Vlad was behind him until he knocked him down. Vlad stomped a foot onto Danny's chest, causing him to cry out in pain. Vlad raised an eyebrow. He leaned over and tightly grasped one of Danny's wrists, causing him to cry out once again. Vlad smirked.  
"It appears that you broke a few of your bones getting out of your bindings." Vlad added more pressure to Danny's chest and causing him more pain. Danny grabbed hold of Vlad's foot, got up from underneath him, and swung him across the room. Vlad caught himself midair. Danny charged after him and threw an ecto-charged punch. He missed and Vlad threw a punch back.

"It's quite fascinating how your tolerance to pain increases when you're fighting." Vlad said as he was blocking Danny's attacks. "I suppose mind is truly the most powerful part of the body, even if it is hardly used."

Danny swung another punch. Vlad caught him by the throat an held him higher up in the air. Good old Vlad and his choke holds, Danny certainly did not miss this.

"Nothing has changed, has it Daniel?" Vlad said, "No matter how hard you try, no matter how strong you get, you are still no match for me. And now, you're most cherished thing has become your greatest weakness. But not to worry, your weakness is disintegrating as we speak."  
Vlad turned his head over to Ophelia, Danny followed. Ophelia had lost all color in her skin, making her stand out more. Her hair turned completely black. If Danny opened her eyes, he expected them to be the same pale lavender. She stopped making sounds, her body fell limp, he could barely see her breathing.

Fear, sorrow, and love for his child filled him at the sight. One glance at Vlad replaced all that with pure rage. He grabbed both Vlad's wrists and pulled yanked them away from his throat. His hands glowed green and sparked with ecto-based electricity. Vlad let out a howl of pain while Danny shocked him.

"You're right, we are no match for each other. I am not a coward, I am not a sociopath, I am not a bitter, lonely old man who takes out his frustrations on those weaker than him, and I am not a monster that haunts small children in their dreams and makes them terrified of the day he might return to hurt them once again. I am a hero, a husband, and above all, a father that would do anything to protect his child. And you, you are one seriously crazed up fruitloop!"

He sent one last shock through Vlad and them threw him straight to the machine that was draining Ophelia. He crashed right into it and caused it to explode. Danny covered his face and turned intangible to avoid any shrapnel. When he stopped hearing the clinking of metal hitting the ground, he uncovered his eyes to see.  
Vlad fell unconscious not too far away. His black rings turned him from Plasmius back to Masters. Danny knew that he wasn't getting up any time soon. Danny looked around and couldn't find that Waltz kid anywhere, the no good punk must've bolted as soon as he shot at him. Danny looked at Vlad once again and smiled. Finally, he got him.  
His small moment of victory disappeared and fear once again took over.  
"Ophelia!"

Danny flew over to the table. He zapped the straps holding her down. He tried to hold her and his wrists shot up in pain. Now that the fighting stopped, he was starting to feel in injuries. He gritted his teeth and held her up in a sitting position. He shook her.  
"Ophelia, wake up, Ophelia."

She wasn't moving. He tapped her face lightly.  
"Come on Ophelia, wake up!"

He kept shaking her, still nothing.

"Ophelia, please, show me that you're still alive, wake up!"

His eyes pricked up in tears. Suddenly, Ophelia stirred. She grunted lightly, slowly but surely getting air in her lungs. Her eyes fluttered open. Her pale lavender locked into his in a somewhat distant stare.  
"….Dad….?" she said hoarsely.  
Danny smiled. Joy and relief overwhelmed him.  
"Yes, it's me. I'm here. It's okay, everything's going to be okay."

* * *

Ophelia opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times to get the blurriness out of her vision. She heard beeping and whirring, had she not spent a good amount of her childhood she would've thought she was still in that horrible laboratory with Vlad and his backstabbing lackey. But she knew these sound well, and was at ease to know that she was somewhere safe. This somewhere, from what Ophelia could see, was a large bedroom. She could sense that she was somewhere in the Ghost Zone, more specifically, her family's realm. Medical equipment was scattered across the room, though most of these machines weren't something a person could find in an average hospital. Most of these machines were design to transfuse ecto-energy and manipulate raw ectoplasm. They were used on ghosts on the rarest of the rare occasions that they had injured themselves so severely that they had depleted themselves of their own ghost energy, but it was most often used to treat Ophelia and her father.  
Her father…?  
"Dad?" she called out, surprised by how hoarse her voice sounded. "Dad?"

She tried to sit up, but she soon found herself too weak to support her own weight. Right at that moment, her mother walked through the doorway. She saw what Ophelia was trying to do and rushed over to catch her right when her arms buckled under her.  
"Easy there, Phé," her mother told her, "Try not to exert yourself, you've got a long way to recover. Here."

She pulled the pillows from behind Ophelia and arranged them so they could prop her up into a sitting position. Gently, she eased Ophelia back into the pillows. The attempt to sit up on her own caused her to feel, and so there were a few short moments of silence for her to get the room to start spinning before she said anything.

"Mom, what happened? Where's Dad? What happened to Vlad and Richie?"  
Sam said nothing. She smiled as she put one hand on top of Ophelia's and another to her forehead.  
"It's alright, sweetie, everything's going to be alright now."  
"But what happened? Is Dad okay?"

"Your father is just fine, a few broken bones here and there but nothing we're not used to."  
She felt a wave of relief. Once again, they narrowly escaped the clutches of the most dangerous man alive. Ophelia bit her lip.  
"And what about Vlad?"  
Instead of seeing her mother's mood darken at the sound of that name, unbinding glee accompanied her motherly tenderness. Ophelia was a surprised, never was her mother so happy when it came to the subject of Vlad.  
"That is the best news of all, Ophelia: we finally caught him."

Ophelia's eyes flashed bewildered.  
"What?"

"Your father took him down and handed him to the police. He's finally being brought to justice. He's going to prison for the rest of his existence."  
Ophelia could not understand those string of words, they seemed so foreign to her. Vlad "Plasmius" Masters, the man that had terrorized her family for longer than she's been alive, the man who killed her grandparents and put her through unimaginable torment, the man who had taken away from her countless of well-slept nights, that man was finally captured. After all this time, Ophelia was finally safe.  
"It's over?" she whispered.  
Sam pulled her into a hug.  
"It's over."

* * *

Danny had a total of two broken wrists, two legs broken in two places, three broken ribs and a concussion. He was confined to his bed in a body cast for the next couple of weeks, putting him on sick leave both from astronaut duty and crime fighting duty. He had been in the cast before, several times in fact. Back before he was a father, he would carelessly fly around and fight whomever he please….and get all two-hundred and ten broken at least once. He hated wearing the casts, having lost the ability to sit still long ago. The only bright side was his wife tending to him during the recovery. But now the poor woman had to take care of two indisposed halfas.

The doctors told him and Sam that she'll make a full recovery as long as she conserves her energy and get plenty of rest. She had to stay within the Ghost Zone during her recovery, as the ecto-energy that makes up the whole dimension should be able to help restore the energy levels she lost from Vlad's laser. Sam told him that they would have no problem getting Ophelia to follow the doctors' orders, as she wasn't even strong enough to sit up on her own and could only stay awake for a few minutes. It didn't really bother him that he couldn't see his kid, as long as she was alive and well he was happy.

Another thing made him happy, too. Something that made this whole ordeal worth while.  
"I defeated Vlad Plasmius." Danny said while Sam fed him his dinner.  
"Yes, honey, yes you did."  
"Sam, I just defeated Vlad Plasmius, the world's greatest villain. The guy had made our lives miserable, caused irreparable damage to our family, nearly caused the destruction of the _planet _that he himself could not fix, and now he's being brought to justice for everything he's done."  
"And Ophelia can finally sleep at night. I swear, I think all this sleeping is her making up for lost time more than from her condition."  
Danny smiled.  
"I'm glad. She deserves some peace after all of this."

"Dad?"  
Sam turned, Danny looked over to the doorway. Ophelia stood there, using the frame to hold herself up. Sam got up out of her seat and raced right towards her.  
"Ophelia, you shouldn't be up on your own."  
"I wanted to see Dad."

Sam helped walk her to the chair she had just left at Danny's side. Once she saw that Ophelia was seated and comfortable. She went to get a chair from the other side of the room to set right beside her child.

Ophelia said nothing as she looked at Danny. Unsure of what was going on in her mind, and having very little options in terms of body movement, he only smiled back at her.  
"Hey, kiddo, how are you feeling?" was his reply.  
"Clearly better than you." She whispered in reply, he could hear a slight quiver in reply. It was then he remembered: Ophelia had never seen him in a full body cast before. In fact, he wasn't sure if she ever saw him in anything worse than a sprain. Ophelia's pale lavender eyes glistened as tears started to form.  
"This is my fault," she cried, "I should've know that there was something wrong about Richie. I shouldn't have given him that chance, or fought him back when he grabbed me or something."  
Danny had yet another reason to hate the full body cast: he couldn't hug his child. In his place, Sam pulled Ophelia into her arms and stroke her hair to console her.  
"Shh, it's okay honey," Sam cooed, "It wasn't your fault."  
"Yes it was!" Ophelia cried from under her mother's shoulder. "I nearly got the both of us killed. Now Dad's hurt and I can't go three feet without getting jelly legs!"

"Ophelia, really, it's fine," Danny told her. "I wore casts more than shoes before you were born, this is nothing."  
Ophelia kept sobbing. She was pretty far from consolable.  
"I'm so sorry!"

"You shouldn't be." Sam said as she wiped away the tears from her daughter's eyes, "Ophelia, you're only fourteen years old. You shouldn't make yourself responsible for everything bad that happens in the family. We're the parents. We're the ones who are at fault if something goes wrong. We should've seen Richard for what he is the moment we laid eyes on him."

Ophelia sniffled and looked up at her mother.

"No Mom," she said, "I should've seen it."  
"How could you be able to see him any clearer than us?"

Her eyes flickered as she tries to find an argument that will get Sam to understand. Danny remembered what Vlad said back at the lab. Could it be true?

"Ophelia, is there something you should tell us?"

Ophelia's eyes flicked to him. She looked like a poor little fawn caught in the headlights of a car. He knew that if she had enough power, she would be fading by now.

"What do you mean?" she said with a hint of guilt.  
"Back at the lab, Vlad told me that you had a special gift that no one knows about. How you can see a person's true essence. Is that true?"

Ophelia looked down to the floor. He took that as a yes. So did Sam.  
"What?" Sam exclaimed in surprise, "You can read people and you never told us? Honey, why wouldn't you tell us?"  
"You wouldn't be able to help me even if I told you." Ophelia said with a bitter edge. "What's the point in telling someone if there's nothing they could do about it?"  
"Um, because we're your parents and we have a right to know about these things?"

"No, actually, you don't. It's my life and my body, I can dispense and withhold information about it whenever I damn well please."

"So if you start coughing up blood, we don't have the right to know about it?"  
"I'm not coughing up blood."

"No, I'm sorry, how foolish of me, you're only recovering from near disintegration."

Ophelia said nothing. She wrapped her arms around her knees, her eyes still fixed to the floor.

"I'm just scared, okay? I'm afraid if people knew what I can do it would hurt me. I mean, as soon as I split myself in two I had to sign that stupid contract. And Vlad…. He only _looked _at me and Grandma and Grandpa were dead. I didn't wanna know how this could be used against me, but now I do. Now any guy can get whatever information they want from me so long as they can manipulate my emotions in just the right way."

She leaned on Sam's shoulder as another wave of tears came over her. Sam rubbed her shoulder to comfort her.  
"There, there, you're way too tired for this kind of excitement. We'll save this discussion for when you're stronger. Let's get you back to bed."

Sam helped Ophelia and walked her out of the room. Ophelia turned back to Danny. She was still to weak for her eyes to glow, but there was a shimmer there that broke his heart with the rest of his body.

"I'm really sorry I caused all this, and no matter what you say I _did_ cause all this. Feel better Daddy."

With that, she turned to leave the room. Sam and Danny exchanged a glance before she left. Yes, they were all happy that Vlad is finally captured and could no longer do them more harm. But now they have more things to worry about, like what they were going to do with Ophelia.

* * *

After a week, Ophelia had recovered enough to return to the Human Plane. A couple days after that, she was well enough to go back to school. She was given most of her homework while she was out, but she had five tests to make up for after school that she would have to study like mad for. Owen found her before she can hide into the deepest corner of the library.

"Hey Phé, I missed you. Feeling any better?"  
Ophelia looked at him with solemn eyes. Silently, she dropped her books and gave him a hug. Owen was so surprised that couldn't stop himself from blushing.

"Um, what's this about?"

"You were right about Richie, you were right the whole time. I should've listened to you, I should've never even dated him in the first place."  
Owen was stuck in a surprised stupor. Ophelia pried herself off of him and smiled.  
"You're the best friend I can ask for."

She picked up her books and shut her locker. Owen managed to snap out of his stupor when she started to walk away.  
"Ophelia, wait."

He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned, her attention was all on him. He an immense pressure on him. He was choking on the mere though of the words he wanted to say. He needed to say it to her, now or never.

He took a breath.

"I, um, have to confess something. You see, I had no idea that Richard was a jerk, I just didn't like him. And I didn't realize why I didn't like him until recently….I was, sort of, jealous of him."  
Ophelia raised an eyebrow.  
"Jealous?"  
"Yeah, I saw him with you and kept on thinking of how nice it would be if I was him….how nice it would be if I was the one with you."

A pale flash went across her eyes.

"What are you saying?"  
"I'm saying that I'm a clueless idiot who probably doesn't deserve it but would really want to be you boyfriend."

Ophelia was quiet again. She bit her lip. It sent Owen into a panic.  
"It's totally okay if you say no-"

"Owen"

"I'm totally fine if you want to stay just friends-"

"Owen"

"It's totally ridiculous for me to tell you this after all the crazy that's been thrown at you. Let's just forget this ever happened and go on with our lives-"  
"Owen! Yes!"

Owen took a pause.  
"W-what?"  
"Yes, Owen, I'll go out with you." Ophelia laughed, "Jeez, you really do worry too much."

Owen couldn't believe his ears.  
"Really? Yes!"  
He was overjoyed. He was so happy that he picked her up and spun her around (she was surprisingly light). Now he knew why those guys in those cheesy old romance movies. Ophelia couldn't help but laugh.

"Took you long enough." She said under her breath.


	17. Season Two

Season Two

Prologue

No one really knows where he came from, or who he was in life. Some weren't even sure if was ever alive to start with. Some thought he was those ever rare occasions where a collective mass of ectoplasm gained sentience and made itself into a ghost. All they knew that he was the very embodiment of power in the Ghost Zone.  
Pariah Dark was not made the King of Ghosts by the will of his fellow dead, he took that title by force. He put some of his power into his two relics, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, to prove that only he was fit to rule them all. Only he was strong enough to contain the energies within those two objects, those who tried would burn away and become part of the Ghost Zone, as stardust is part of the cosmos in the world of the living.  
Somewhere on the way, he let the power get the better of him, and his subjects could take his cruel tyranny no longer. And so the people banded together the strongest of ghosts, and together they brought down their King. They drew his powers from him and made it so that only when both his relics were in his possessions that he could rule the Ghost Zone once more. These take from him, Pariah Dark was locked away in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, the only prison fit to contain a ghost of his greatness. And for thousands of years, the Ghost King slept. Over time, those brave ghosts disappeared, and their names long forgotten. Pariah's kingdom crumbled and fell away, and he himself became nothing more than an old legend known to all who crossed over into the afterlife.  
Then came a man, a man with powers of both the living and the dead. This man, in attempt to steal his relics and claim the powers of the Ghost King for his own, freed the King himself. Pariah sought out this pathetic creature to return one of his relics. The whole of the Ghost Zone fled to the Human Plane, and a part of the Earth was claimed in the name of the King. He soon had both his relics in his possession, and prepared to conquer the worlds of both the dead and the living.  
Then came a boy, a young boy who weilded the powers of both the living and the dead. The young lad sought to protect his home and fought the King. Almost at the cost of his life, the boy defeated Pariah Dark, and returned him to his Sarcophogus of Forever Sleep. The aforementioned man succeeded in procuring the King's relics, and gained an alliance with His Majesty's right hand man. Soon the man fled the face of the Earth, and the relics were lost to both worlds.  
To this day, no one knows where the man had hidden the relics or what he had planned to do with them in the first place. And to this day, the King sleeps. Despite his predicament, Pariah Dark is still the King of Ghosts and the most feared being of all creation. No one knows the true extent of his powers, or what would happen if he were to be freed once more. And so his prison, formerly his palace, is heavily guarded, as to make sure the dreaded day of his escape will never come.


	18. Dani and Val

Pariah's Keep: the most dangerous and most heavily guarded place in the Ghost Zone. Rightfully so, since it was once the home of the most dangerous thing in existence. Now, it is its prison, where it shall sleep eternally. The time is midnight, on the Human Plane the people sleep as their smog-filled skies suffocate the stars and dim the moon. Here in the Ghost Zone, here in Pariah's Keep, a few officers of GZPD stand vigil in the old throne room. There is no throne in the throne room now, nor has there been for thousands of years. In place of a throne, there sits a sarcophagus. It is the very reason why the GZPD guard the Keep under the orders of the Observants.

It is one of the most mundane of jobs a ghost cop could ever be assigned to.

The oldest complaint of the guards is that no one in their right mind would ever want to break in to Pariah's Keep. The most valuable relics of the King, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, has been lost for twenty-four years. No one in their right mind would ever go near the sleeping King, no one who knew who (or what) he was. But thanks to some mutant and his idiotic scheme for power, the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep must be guarded at all times to make sure the Ghost Zone does not suffer from yet another act of foolishness. So they sit around, prepared for an attack that everyone knows will never happen.  
Or so they think.

It is at this time of midnight that a human busts through the door of the throne room. The guards are surprised, but not completely thrown off. They instinctively shoot at the human, who dodges with such ease that it was almost insulting. She draws out her guns as if she were the reincarnation of Annie Oakley. She does not miss either of the guards and the fall to the floor. She walks up the steps leading to the Sarcophagus, feeling no need to rush. She makes it to the top and looks up to the Sarcophagus. She smiles.

On her back is what would appear to be a ray gun. She withdraws it and poises it at the Sarcophagus.

By the time reinforcements had arrived, the human was gone. And so was the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.

* * *

Detective Gray had yet another irritating night of patrol with her goddaughter. To both of their misfortunes, the Bystander Contract had a clause for when Danny gets injured. If his injuries cause a prolonged absence of duty, Ophelia would have to take his place until he made a full recovery.

"So this is what you guys do all night?" Ophelia would ask as she floated beside Valerie.  
"Pretty much."

Ophelia's eyes would glaze over and glow a dull pallor.  
"Bored…..Can we go home now?"  
"Honey, we've only been out for an hour. We have to stay out here and keep an eye out for criminal activity. It can take all night, you never know when-"  
"BORED!"

And so Valerie would come home with a massive headache that would stay with her half the day. She loves her godchild like she was her one of her own, but she couldn't take another night. She couldn't tell who was worse, Ophelia or her father.

She made it to her office that morning without a problem. She hoped she would get a quiet day to catch up on her paperwork. Nobody in the station bothered telling her that she had a visitor, so she was surprised to find someone in her office sitting at her seat with her feet propped up on her desk. She was happily surprise to find that someone to be the new warden and Head of the GZPD.

"Hey Little D"

"Hey Val," said Dani, "Hope you don't mind that I let myself in."

"Not at all, I love having you around. You're the least annoying halfa I have to deal with."

"That's because you have to deal with me the least."

"That just means you're the only halfa smart enough to stay out of my way."

Valerie shooed Dani out of her seat and have her take one of the chairs across from her.

"So, what brings you here to the Human Plane?"

"This" Dani slapped a file on the desk. Valerie looked at it curiously and picked it up to read. Dani went ahead and explained what was in the file. "Some idiot broke in to Pariah's Keep and made my men look like even bigger idiots. The Observants are breathing down my neck and are having me deal with this myself. I've only been Warden for a couple of months and these guys are already blaming me for the damage Walker has done."

Valerie looked over a line in the case file twice to see if she read it right.

"Wait, this says that the woman stole the _Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep_? The thing that is imprisoning the King of All Ghosts is _missing_? No wonder the Observants are after you."

Dani gave her a peeved look.  
"He's not that bad is he? I mean, I've heard stories about him but they're only exaggerations, right?"

Valerie shook her head and smiled.

"Sometimes I forget just how old you are. Pariah was released a little before your time. I saw first hand just how powerful he is. In fact, everyone in Amity has."

"Especially Danny, who threw him back into the Sarcophagus and became the 'Savior of the Ghost Zone'. Everyone on my side of the duoverse has heard the story at least ten times in their afterlife."

"Bottom line is he's dangerous. If he breaks loose from his prison, all hell is going out with him. So you have to go catch this guy and get the Sarcophagus back."

"Not me, _we_. The perp's human, and since this is a human committing a crime against ghosts, it is a GHCU case as well as GZPD."

Valerie's gave her own peeved expression.

"Yay, just what I need, more work. Do we at least have an ID on the perp?"

"Something like that. The cops on duty gave a basic description of the chick." Dani rifled through the file until she found the page she was looking for. "Red hair, blue eyes, average height."

"That along with the tactical skills and mastery of ghost weaponry describes Vivian Redd."

Dani looked up from the file to Valerie with a curious expression.  
"Redd? That crazy assassin lady? Don't you guys have her put away?"

"That's what I thought too, but they should've notified me if she had escaped."

Valerie picked up the phone and dialed in a few numbers. Dani snorted.

"Sorry, I almost forgot how chaotic things are out here on the Human Plane. When a ghost gets out, we are on it like that" she snapped her fingers. Valerie glowered at her.

"Yeah, well, we would be more organized too if we had all of eternity to figure out our – Hello? This is Captain Valerie Gray of GHCU over in Amity Park. May I speak with the Warden please?...Hello, Mr. Henderson?...Hey Jeremy, this is Valerie. I'm calling about one of your convicts. A Miss Vivian "Vendetta" Redd?...Yes, that's her. I wanted to check up and see…Oh, really? And no one thought to tell me?... What do you mean it wasn't important? That bitch tried to kill my goddaughter, _twice!_...I understand that Masters is put away, but that doesn't mean she's not a dangerous woman. And it's no excuse for you to slack off and let her escape. You better whip that prison into shape, Jeremy, you're only job is to keep the human from getting out….That's because I do my job well, unlike you…Listen clearly: you let this happen again, and I'll be helping the State hand pick your replacement."

She slammed the phone down. She pinched the bridge of her nose, the conversation

Did nothing to alleviate her headache. Dani leaned into the desk, propping her head up with her hands.  
"I'm guessing she escaped?"

"She's been out for a week and no one bothered giving me the heads up."  
"The girl must work fast to already have an employer."

Valerie looked up from her hand.

"Like someone actually _wanted _that thing."

"Someone had to if they hired the best human-ghost mercenary. First we need to find Redd, then we get her to give up her employer. First and foremost, how do find her?"

Valerie smiled and opened up her computer.

"I think I know just the place."

* * *

In the shadow of the shining community of Amity Park is the city of Elmerton. The town gave one the feeling of abandonment and despair when setting foot there. The fondest memory Valerie have from her time living here was moving out to go to college and eventually the Police Academy. Dani only had one memory of this town.  
"Hey, isn't that where I saved your life and you captured me to hand over to Vlad?" she asked with teasing implications. Valerie's jaw clenched at the memory.  
"Yeah, that's the place."  
"Back then, did you think you would ever end up working with someone like me?"

"No, I was mostly thinking of ways to kill you and Danny."

Dani looked at her bewildered. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Come on, it was back before I really knew you guys. I don't even think like that anymore."

"Still, it's weird to hear."

Dani and Valerie landed at the door of an old, abandoned warehouse. Valerie let her jet sled disappear into her shoes and Dani's white rings turned her from Phantom to Fenton. Valerie knocked on the door.

"This place is the largest human-ghost black market trade in the Great Lakes area. Redd's bound to have been a customer here, or there should at least be someone who knows her."

The door opened as far as the padlocked chains would go. A face concealed in shadow was shown n the other side of the door.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, we're here to salvage the architecture."

"And what is there to salvage?"

"I heard the _armory_ is quite valuable."

The eye of the shadowy face looked from Valerie to Dani and back.

"Sorry, the armory has been cleaned out." And he slammed the door in their faces.

Dani looked over to Valerie annoyed.  
"What was that?"  
"He must've thought we looked suspicious. We'll have to find another way in."

"Tch, I'll show you another way in."

Valerie could see Dani's opacity fade a little, her tell-tale sign of turning intangible.

"Dani, wait!" she warned, but unfortunately the ghost clone did not listen. She went through the wall only to get shocked and thrown back a few feet. As she pulled herself up, Valerie stood over her with her hands on her hips. Dani wondered it this was the same look she gave to her kids when they did something stupid.

"They place trades in anti-ghost weaponry, they'd be stupid _not _to have a ghost shield."

"Great" Dani grumbled, "Then I'll have to do this the hard way."

She walked over and knocked on the door. Again the door opened and again the face appeared.  
"Can I help you?"

She didn't say anything. Before the man could react, Dani flew through the small crack in the doorway and closed the door behind them. Valerie could hear the familiar sounds of punches, kicks, and a ghost ray or two. She made a note to herself not to include this in her report. After a minute or two, the door pulled open. A hand came out with a key and unlocked the padlock. The chains fell to the ground and the doors were allowed to pull apart even more with Dani smirking happily on the other side. Valerie crossed her arms and gave her an un-amused glare.

"I don't know if you remember, but police brutality is frowned upon on this universe."

"Oh come on Val, what happened to the Queen Badass who'd shoot first and ask questions never?"

"She grew up, got married, a good job, two kids, a divorce, and promoted to a rank that can't afford black marks."

Dani rolled her eyes.

"Sounds boring."

"Hey, we can't all go tramping up around the country and do whatever we feel like eleven months out of the year."

"Whatever, can we go in now?"

Valerie raised her hand up in surrender.

"Fine."

* * *

After a long ride down in an elevator that Dani thought belonged in a mineshaft, the two found themselves in the market. Val was not exaggerating, the place was huge. It made Dani think of an indoor flea market, if flea markets sold ghost contraband. Not only it sold every anti-ghost weapon that she had ever heard of, but it sold fake IDs and birth certificates to ghosts who wanted to pose as humans. It even sold raw ectoplasm, which Dani knew was the hardest thing to come by in the Human Plane. Trying to find any information here was going to be difficult.

"Okay, so how are we suppose to find anything about Redd here?" Dani asked.

Val gave her a sly smile that reminded her of the huntress she first met a long time ago.

"Follow me"

And so she did. She followed her all the way down to a stand that was selling ghost artifacts (Dani recognized a couple of them as being reported stolen in GZ).

"Yo, Roman!" Val shouted. A head stuck out from behind the stand. He was a ghost, with green skin and red eyes. His black hair made Dani think at first that the guy had never seen a brush in his after life (reminding her greatly of her little sister), but after a second look she realized that his hair was actually styled to look that way.

"Ah, Detective Gray, how can I help you this fine and friendly day?" He then spotted Dani. He propped his head up on the table y his elbow and flashed her a smiled that bugged her greatly. "Or, more importantly, who's your friend?"

"The name's Danielle Fenton," Dani told him with a bite, "Warden Danielle Fenton, Head of the GZPD."

Roman's eyes widened and he stood straight up like a soldier at attention.  
"Warden! Wh-what brings you to the world of the Living?"

Dani smiled. Good, the guy at least knows who not to screw around with.  
"We are here to track a woman, perhaps you've heard of her? She goes by the name Vendetta."  
His eyes seemed to bug out of his head at the name.

"I'm not quite sure I have."

"I think you have, in fact I believe you've met her. I believe you know where she is right now."

Roman bit his lip. And Dani thought ghosts couldn't sweat.

"What are you afraid of? It's not like she can kill you. It's not like she can throw you in jail like I can. How about you be a good little ghost and tell us where Vendetta is."

"I don't exactly know where she is, but I know what she's working on."

"Tell us."

"Okay, there's this guy. A human guy. He likes to collect ghostly artifacts, he actually frequents my stand from time to time."

"Does he have a name?" asked Val

"Adam Worth."

Val seemed to recognize the name. Dani raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

* * *

"Adam Worth" Valerie pulled up the file on the computer in her office. "He's the head of an art-smuggling ring, though no one's able to catch him, let alone convict him. It has been rumored that he has also been smuggling ghostly artifacts from the Ghost Zone, but it's news to me that he actually keeps them for himself."

"Alright, so he's a human who likes ghost stuff," Dani said dismissively, "But why would he hire Redd to steal the Sarcophagus? If he has a decent knowledge of GZ he should know that that thing is dangerous."

"To humans, anything involving ghosts are dangerous. Only the people who lived who experienced Pariah's escape could understand the magnitude of the danger they are putting themselves in."

"So to him, the Sarcophagus is just another valuable treasure of the dead?"

Valerie shrugged.  
"I guess Pariah Dark is similar to King Tut's Curse to humans: just another silly superstition to keep people from stealing valuable items. That's not important at the moment, what's important is that we need to find out where the Sarcophagus is being held."

"Humans are idiots, he probably has it somewhere in his house."

"But we can't get a warrant to search the house based on your assumptions."

"What about  
"No, but we can go in to ask a few questions."  
Valerie raised her eyebrow at her with an unamused glare.  
"No"

"What do you mean no?"  
"I know what you're planning, and I say no. No, we are not going into the house to question him; no, you will not sneak off to go look for the Sarcophagus and no, you will not get me in trouble when you get caught."

"Jeez, Val, who do you think you're talking to here, Ophelia? I know the rules, and I have the Observants breathing down my neck to make sure I follow those rules. I'm just saying that we should go in and see what we can get off of him. Perhaps we'll run into some probable cause while we're there."

"I hope you're not implying anything."  
"Come on, Val, you have no faith in me. I promise, I will be right at your side when we get there, okay?"

Valerie's stared at her blankly. She had known Dani as long as she knew the rest of the Fenton family. She knew she was free spirit, unable to stay at one spot for more than a few weeks or so. The shady spook who broke the laws just as easily as she would uphold them. She had a trick up her sleeve, Valerie could just feel it. Sadly, the best she could do is go with her before Dani can figure a less than legal way to get into the house.

"Oh, fine," Valerie said with a bitter reluctance, "But no tricks."

Dani held up her hands and showed her straight, uncrossed fingers.  
"Scout's honor."

"Were you even a scout?"

Dani's wide eyes blinked that Valerie instinctively read as feigned innocence.

"You have to be an actual scout to say that? I thought it was a figure of speech."

* * *

The home of Adam Worth sat at the edge of Amity Park, not too far away from the richer side of town. His house did not draw attention upon itself, nor of it's owner, but it was far from modest. Not for only one person to live in, at least. On the way to the door, Dani checked for a cellar door or something to confirm there was a basement, or an attic. She couldn't see one, but she knew it didn't mean there wasn't one.

They stood on the porch and before she knocked on the door, Val told Dani:

"Remember, you are not to leave my side for _anything, _and let me answer the questions, please."

Dani rolled her eyes and agreed to Val's terms. Val knocked on the door and a man answered. He couldn't be no older than Val, with maple brown hair and eyes a darker shade behind his wire-framed glasses. He seemed like a nice guy, but then again the best of crooks always do. It isn't until you've been duped enough times and grown a think skin could you see the kind ones for what they really are.

"Can I help you, ladies?" said the man.

"Are you Adam Worth?" asked Dani.

"Yes"

Valerie showed him her badge, and Dani immediately followed her cue.

"I'm Detective Valerie Gray, Captain of of Amity Park's Ghost-Human Crimes Unit, and this is Danielle Fenton, Warden of the Ghost Zone. We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you would be so kind?"

A ripple of fear, an even so small one, went across his face before quickly hiding it in that kind smile.  
"What is this about, am I suspected of committing a crime?"

"No, but you can help us with a case." Said Dani. "You see, there has been a theft in the Ghost Zone and we suspect that humans are behind it. We believe, being an expert in art and ghostly artifacts, you can help us find who would want it."

Worth smiled. He thinks he's getting away with it.

"Sure, of course, come in. Anything to help Amity's finest, as well as the Ghost Zone's."

He opened the door wider to let the women in. Dani couldn't help but smile, leaving an invisible duplicate to go searching. She was going to stay by her side, but she never promised she wouldn't be at two places at once. They always to forget that she could duplicate too.

* * *

While Val and Dani sat in the living room being offered a drink by Worth, Dani's duplicate had already checked the attic space and was making her way down to the basement. So far, the guy looked clean. There was nothing lying around that she immediately recognized as stolen artifacts from the Ghost Zone or the Human Plane (although, she never paid much attention to the arts and history of either worlds). Maybe humans aren't that dumb, she thought. She went into the basement and looked around. It was a typical rec-room setting found in any other house in America, save perhaps the far from cheap furnishings and a bar with liquors older than herself. Dani stood behind the bar and propped her head against the counter.

"So if it's not here, then it was to be in one of his galleries." Dani said to herself, "And there's no way we can get a warrant on the absolute nothing I found."

Dani dug her finger under her hair and pulled her head down. It will take forever to find grounds for a search warrant , and by that time he would've old the Sarcophagus or moved it somewhere out of reach. The Ghost King would be gone forever like his relics.

Great, just great.

Dani lifted her head and walked out of the basement. Then she noticed the light switches by the staircase. Two on/off switches and a dimmer knob. She flipped the first two switches and the whole room lit up, but nothing happened when she turned the knob. There was one click to let her know the lights should be on, but then there was a second click and she felt the knob loosen for her to pull outwards.

Interesting

She turned the knob again, feeling and hearing the resistance similar to winding up a music box. She pushed the knob back down. Just as she did, the wall opposite her folded away in sections to show another room.

"Okay, somebody's watched way too many secret agent movies."

Dani walked to the opened wall and found a freight elevator on the other side. She didn't turn it on because she had a feeling it would make a sound. Instead, she phased through the floor and floated down the shaft. It was a long way down, she felt, but it could have been a trick from the pitch black surrounding her. All she could see was a foot or two by the light of her own ghostly glow, not enough to see any of the walls. Her perception of time was a little distorted, so the Dani in the living room would compulsively check the grandfather clock behind Worth to check the time. What felt like an hour to reach the illuminated bottom of the shaft was only five minutes.

At the bottom of the shaft was a large room. It looked like she had stumbled into a room in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. All around, there were things in glass cases. She only recognized a few of the things from articles and case files, but she knew all of them were ghost artifacts. Stolen ghost artifacts.

She went around to check every room in the underground gallery. There in the furthest back room of the gallery was a room just for the Sarcophagus. Pressed against the wall opposite the doorway, the large coffin stretched out from floor to ceiling.

Dani could not contain herself. She was bouncing with joy.  
"Yes! I knew humans were idiots!"

Just as she was savoring her victory, a shot was fired and the Phantom duplicate dissolved into a puff of green smoke.

* * *

Upstairs in the living room, Dani and Valerie went from questioning Worth to exchanging pleasantries with him. Dani asked as many questions about his profession as she could think of. Worth thought nothing of it and answered all her questions with such detail and pride that Valerie assumed that he loved talking about himself and his work and yet rarely got the chance to do so. It made Valerie think he was some kind of nerd back in high school, or at least grew into one. With every question Dani asked, Valerie looked at her with more and more suspicion. She knew Dani was buying time for something, but what? Suddenly, out of nowhere, the questions stopped.  
"That is very interesting, Mr. Worth," Dani said with a polite smile, "But if you don't mind, I need to have a word with Detective Gray in the other room."

Before Worth could respond, Dani got up from her seat and pulled Valerie by the arm out of hers. Valerie followed Dani out of the room. Once they were in the hallway and out of Worth's earshot, Dani's poker face fell.

"I found it." Dani told Val in a hushed tone.

"You found it?" Valerie asked. She became angry when she knew what Dani meant. "Oh no! What did you do!"

Dani held out her hands defensively.

"Nothing, I promised to be right by your side when we questioned him and I was!"

It was true, she was right there next to her. As far as she knew, no ghost, not even a half ghost had x-ray vision, and it's not like….

Valerie growled and face-palmed herself.

"You duplicated yourself, didn't you!"

"Yes, but I found it, and a whole lot of other stolen treasure. But we're in trouble, someone found me and shot me, our cover is blown. We have to get out an get reinforcements before he finds out an moves everything."

"How are we going to do that? We still don't have grounds for a warrant."  
"We don't need a warrant! I saw everything and someone just shot me! I think that's enough."

Before Valerie could argue. She heard the familiar click and whine of a charging gun and felt the barrel of it on the back of her head.

"You two ladies aren't going anywhere." Said Worth from behind her.

Before Valerie or even Worth could do anything, Dani caught her in a bear hug. She felt tingly. There was the sound of gunfire and Valerie saw the beam shoot across the hall over her head. That's how she realized the two of them were sinking through the floor.

She had been intangible quite a few times, fighting with and against ghosts for a living since she was a teenager. Going through solid matter felt like walking though a curtain of mist, except the curtain was made from some kind of gas that made your skin tingle. And so Dani dragged her through that curtain and into one large cloud of earth. Right when she was afraid her friend was planning on pulling through the center of the Earth, they finally in some room underground.

Valerie looked around agape. She was able to identify every single object in that room, down to the rusted spoon in a glass case, as an artifact in the GZPD's case file of missing or stolen objects.

"Where are we?" Valerie asked.

"The treasure vault," Dani told her, "Now come on!"

She tugged on Valerie's arm and dragged her across the room. They probably went through seven different rooms until Dani took her to one with the Sarcophagus of Eternal Sleep standing over them. It was a lot bigger than she imagined.

"Okay, we found it. What are we supposed to do now?"

"First, we're getting this out of here as soon as possible." Said Dani. Two white rings transformed her into Phantom and her hands started to glow. "I'll open a portal and we can-"

A pink ray was shot at Dani and knocked her to the ground.

"Didn't I already shoot you?"

Valerie turned to the doorway. There stood Vivian Redd, with pink smoke trickling out of her gun. Instinctively, Valerie pulled her own gun and aimed it at her.

"Vivian 'Vendetta' Red, you're under arrest for escaping prison, the theft of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, and the assault of the Warden of the Ghost Zone, if she'll press charges."

"Of course I'm pressing charges!" Dani cried, "The bitch just shot me twice!"

"I'm afraid there isn't much potency in your words," Redd said with a prideful tone. She slung her gun back onto her shoulder and aimed it at Valerie before she continued. "For you see, I don't see you getting out any time soon. Not alive, anyway."

"That sounds like a threat to me."

"Really? I see it more as a fact."

Out of the corner of her eye, Valerie saw Dani standing next to her with glowing hands aimed at Redd.

"How do you expect to get rid of us, Redd?" said Dani, "It's the two of us against only one of you."

Redd gave them nothing but an arrogant smirk.

"I've had worse odds. I believe in quality over quantity. Here we have one highly skilled mercenary trained in ghost and human hunting against one measly halfa clone and a vigilante gone soft."

Valerie's face became as dark as the bruise on her pride.  
"I don't know what you've heard, but I have not gone soft."

She laughed.

"Oh please, if you weren't such a goodie two-shoes you have found me a lot earlier. In fact, if it wasn't for Orphan Black you wouldn't have found me at all. You have been tracking me down at a snail pace to keep your ass out of trouble. You went soft the day you clipped on the badge."

Vlaraie's reflex betrayed her and she pulled the trigger. Redd managed to dodge the laser despite the heavy arsenal and only had a few inches singed off her hair. Redd tumbled into a crouching position and aimed her gun and the two of them. She fired a shot straight at Valerie but it was blocked by a green energy field. The field shrank into a barricade that she and Dani could shoot from and they crouched behind them.  
"Quick thinking." Valerie told Dani.  
"What, you think I would've survived twenty four years on the road and under contract if I was slow?" Dani replied.

Valerie gave her a smile before she reached over the blockade and started shooting at Redd, who was know hiding behind a wall by the doorway. After a few shots, both Redd and Valerie hid behind their barriers.  
"This is no good," said Valerie, "We won't get anywhere this way. Do you think you can send a duplicate over there and grab her from behind?"  
"I can, but I'm not good at multi-tasking my powers between my duplicates. If I try to sneak around, it might weaken the shield. If I have to use force, you're better off hiding behind Styrofoam."  
The shield absorbed a shot aimed at their backs.  
"Come on, girls," Said Redd from across the room. "Don't tell me you're getting tired already?"  
"It's a chance I'm willing to take." Valerie told Dani. Dani gave a nod. Valerie couldn't see anything, but she could tell that Dani had just sent out the duplicate. She smiled and they both looked over the barricade with guns and glowing hands aimed at Redd.

"Tired? We were just warming up." Valerie shouted at her.

"In fact, we were going to ask you if you were tired." Dani called with her. "Or if you forgot your glasses. The only thing worse than your aim is your haircut."  
Redd sneered.  
"Dani, come on," said Valerie, "You know better than to insult a woman's hair style. Not when her choice in names are a lot worse."  
The girls ducked just in time and saw the shot fly over their heads. Valerie smiled and continued.  
"I mean, seriously, Vendetta? Who do you seek revenge on? The employer who gave you your fifteen minutes just to make you look like a fool to the world?"  
"Nope," answered Dani, "She wouldn't still be working for him if she did. Maybe it's Danny, since she and her friends were nothing more than pawns in a petty act against him."  
"Hmm, that did make her seem a little pathetic, but I wouldn't waste twenty four years and make up a codename for that."

"Maybe she hates you."

"Me? Why me? They were my competition and I lost to them."  
"Maybe she's jealous of how well you came out. I mean, look at you. You are the youngest precinct captain who helped create the first Ghost-Human Crimes Unit. You married a good guy and have two lovely children. You may not see them as much as you want to, but at least they are safe and they love you. And what does Redd have to show for herself? She gets humiliated in front of the whole world and has to make a living doing other people's dirty work."

They heard Redd growling from across the room. They looked over once again. Redd was trying very hard to mask her anger, but Valerie could still see it. She was livid.

"That's it. You two lost your living privileges."

She pushed a few buttons on her weapon before she aimed it back at them. There came the familiar high-pitched whine of it charging. The barrel of the gun shining a blinding white, barely able to contain the energy inside. Valerie lost her breath. Redd set the weapon too high, dangerously high. Whatever the blast would hit would go off like a grenade. Perfect way to destroy your living enemies and cripple the ones that were already dead. But there was a reason no one made an ecto-gun that high.

"Are you crazy!" Valerie called out. "If you don't kill us, you'll kill yourself if you don't pull the trigger!"

Redd only smiled.

"Lucky for me I'm nota patient person."  
She was about to pull the trigger when green sparks came off her body. She let out a shriek and fell to the ground. Dani's duplicate stood behind her, green smoke trickled out of her hand from shocking her. She smiled at her victory.

Valerie was not smiling.  
"Dani, the gun!"

Dani's eyes went wide, her smile was gone. She picked up the gun and fiddled with the buttons.  
"How do you turn this off!" Dani said in a panic.

The gun started beeping and a red light was blinking.

"It's too late now," Valerie told her, "You have to get rid of it!"

Dani held the gun under her arm and her other arm, shaking terribly, started to glow. A portal opened a few feet behind Valerie and the original Dani, at the feet of the Sarcophagus. The duplicate threw the weapon towards the portal while the original made her shield envelope around them and fortified it just in case. Valerie could not see what happened on the other side of the ethereal wall. She looked over to the Dani closest to her.

"Did it work?"  
"I don't-"

_BOOM!_

Valerie and Dani both covered their ears. The explosion shook them from within the shield. Dani's duplicate evaporated from the amount of energy Dani needed to keep the shield up. Valerie heard something crash over their heads. Pieces of ceiling, she assumed. It wasn't long before the crashing and shaking stopped. They looked at each other. Carefully and slowly, Dani lowered the shield. The room was fairly intact, there were cracks all over the walls and ceiling. Valerie was worried that the room would collapse on them, but nothing more fell on them but some plaster dust.

"What happened?" Valerie asked.

"I told you, it's hard to manage my powers when there's two of me. I must have put too much energy into the shields that the portal disintegrated before the gun could go through. And so….boom."

Valerie's eyes widened.  
"Right in front of the Sarcophagus."

She went over to the feet where the blast originated. Dani followed after slowly.  
"Come on, Val, the thing was made to hold the Ghost King. I don't think one little explosion would break it."

"Tell that to the crack."

Where the gun must have went off, there was a crack. It was a spider web that looked small in comparison to the whole of the coffin, but was a big as a man hole cover. It was the surface was dented a few inches in. Valerie couldn't look at it without holding her breath, as if a small exhale would make the crack worse. Dani looked scared too. Valerie wondered if she knew just how big a danger this was or if this was a dent on a policeman's car to her.

"Okay, this might be a problem." Dani said, her fear poorly hidden. "We'll just have to call in some back up. Find a way to carry this out of here without making it worse. Maybe there's a way to fix it. Maybe it'll fix itself once we get it into the Ghost Zone, a lot of ghostly items heal itself once in an ectoplasm enriched atmosphere."

Perhaps some more dust fell on it, perhaps it was the vibrations of their voices, or maybe it was something underneath, but at that moment the crack grew. It crawled up the Sarcophagus, leaving deep gashes in the body with a green glowing oozing from underneath. It was only five seconds before the cracks reached the head of the Sarcophagus and whole room shook once again.

Valerie backed away from the Sarcophagus. Bits and pieces of the crypt fell away. When she was next to Dani, she grabbed her by the wrist.  
"Get us out of here!" Valerie cried. She looked over to Redd, still unconscious on the floor. She ran over to her. She heard a something like stone breaking open and the next thing she knew she was flat on the ground. She pulled herself up. Her head was throbbing. She looked back to see if Dani was okay. She couldn't see Dani but what she did see paralyzed her.

* * *

Dani got up after being knocked down by a shock wave. She did not look back to see the cause of it, instead she scrambled to her feet and raced over to Redd and Val. Redd was still unconscious, thankfully. Dani grabbed her and went back to Val. She was staring straight on back to where the Sarcophagus stood. She wasn't doing anything else, and it scared Dani greatly. Dani knew now wasn't the time to worry about it and grabbed Val by the upper arm and pulled her into the air. She turned the three of them intangible and flew them through the ceiling. She took them out in the front yard of Worth's house and set them down. Val was sitting up, staring blankly ahead of her. Dani knelt down to her and shook her shoulder.

"Val? Are you okay? Val?"

There was no response. Dani shook harder.  
"Come on Val, we need you down on Earth, snap out of it!"

Still no response. Dani looked to her hand as it sparked to life with ghost energy.

"I'm really sorry to do this, but…"

She touched her index finger to Val's arm and gave her a small shock. Val jumped and clutched her arm.

"Ow! Dani, what was that for!"

"Sorry, you were in shock. I needed to wake you up."

"I was not in shock. I have never been in shock ever in my career."

"There's always time for a first."

Valerie looked back to the house.

"Should I go back for Worth?" Dani asked.

"Nah, he probably ran as soon as the gun went off. He's long gone by now."

"So he got away."

"For now, but we've got a whole gallery of evidence against him. Once we catch him, it's over. And at least we have the fugitive." She nodded over to Redd beside her.

"And the Sarcophagus? What are we going to do about that?"

Valerie's face darkened and she stared out again.

"We don't have to worry about it anymore, it's gone."

"Gone?"

"Destroyed," Valerie looked up to Dani in such a way that sent a chill all over. "The Ghost King is free and there is no way to contain him."


	19. Quest for the Spring of Life

At first, there was barely any ghostly criminal activity, but then it came into Amity Park like a tsunami. Word must have gotten out that Danny Phantom was indisposed and the ghosts took it as open season, much to the chagrin of GHCU and Danny Phantom's temporary replacement.  
"Come back here!"  
Ophelia chased after her tenth ghost that night. This one was going incredibly fast, causing windows to shatter as he flew by. The police had lost he miles back and Ophelia could barely catch up.  
"Hey Speed Demon," she shouted to the ghost, "Slow down before you crash into something!"  
Either it couldn't hear her or didn't care because it kept on flying faster and faster.  
"Oh, screw it!" she said to herself. She phased through buildings while the ghost weaved around them. She got ahead of it and formed a net as it was heading her way. The ghost failed to stop in time and got trapped. The ghost struggled in the net as Ophelia dangled it in the air.  
"Ha!" she mocked. "I'd like to see you get out of that!"  
She soon regretted her words, as the ghost started flying off while in the net. Ophelia tried to pull it back but instead got taken along for the ride.  
"Hey, stop, quit it!" she shouted, but again it wouldn't listen. It was going every which way to shake her loose, but she hung on for dear life. They were halfway across town when he was caught in a beam. Ophelia caught herself in the air before she fell over or was thrown by the excess inertia. The beam sucked the ghost into a container wielded by Detective Gray.  
"That's yet another ghost you needed me to catch for you tonight." She said.  
"Hey, I was doing perfectly fine on my own." Ophelia protested.  
"You didn't look like it."

"I was wearing him down."  
"You would've been dragged all the way to Springfield before he wore down."  
Ophelia crossed her arms and turned away.  
"Whatever. Can I go home now?"

"I suppose, I doubt you'll be any more useful this late at night. So, how's your dad?"

Ophelia half smiled and turned back to Valerie.  
"He's still in his cast, but he's getting better. Doctors say he would've healed a lot earlier if it weren't for the ectoranium burns. Another week in the Ghost Zone and a little physical therapy and he'll be back on patrol."  
Valerie looked away, making Ophelia feel uneasy.  
"What? What's wrong?"  
"I guess they didn't tell you."  
"Tell me what?"  
"Well…you know how Pariah Dark is loose?"

"I never heard the end of it. Everyone in and out of the Ghost Zone won't stop talking about it."  
"Well, as of tomorrow, for the safety of the citizens, the Ghost Zone's being evacuated."  
Ophelia nearly dropped out of the sky in hearing the news.

"The entire Ghost Zone? Is that even possible?"

"They did it before when Pariah first came out of the Sarcophagus. This time, we're keeping it under control and the ghosts will have a place to stay at the meantime."  
"But, but what about Clockwork, Frostbite, the Observants? Where would they stay? What about my Dad?"

"Your dad will have to moved home and heal it out on the Human Plane."  
"But then it'll take weeks for him to heal! And I can't keep doing these night patrols without him."  
"You'll have to, and it'll be a lot worse now that every ghost in existence will be sharing the planet with us."

"So a prolonged broken parent _and _ten times the workload? Splendid."

"This isn't just about you, Ophelia, we all have to deal with this. My precinct is going to work around the clock to keep the peace. We'll have to borrow people form other precincts who probably never held a ghost weapon in their lives."

"But they're choosing to do this, they're better trained. I'm a kid, for Pete's sake, I'm in a very short phase in my life where I don't have these burdens of responsibilities. I should be with my boyfriend or worrying about the big math test in the morning, not dodging ghost rays at two in the morning."  
"Oh come on, Phé, you know that your parents, your Aunt Jazz, your uncle Tucker and me were fighting ghosts at your age."

"That's because you were the only ones who could fight ghosts, you had no choice."  
"And I'm sorry but neither do you. Now go home and rest, I'll need you well rested and fully functioning tomorrow night when all the ghosts are relocated."

* * *

She was in the basement of the high school, sound asleep on the cold floor. Owen could tell that she was too deep a sleep to remember that she was in school in the middle of the day.

"Thanks, Sid." Owen said to the ghost who found her.

"No problemo," said Poindexter, "She should get some more sleep, this is the fourth time I found her catching Zs."

"I'll let her know." Owen said as Poindexter disappeared.

Owen walked over and knelt down to her. He held her by the shoulder and gently shook her.

"Time to get up, Phé," he told her.  
Ophelia stirred. He saw her eyes peeking through her hair. She smiled at him, at first, but then after looking around the smile faded.  
"I fell asleep and phased through the floor again, didn't I?"

"Yep"  
"Did anyone see me this time?"

"Just me, has anyone told you how pretty you look when you're asleep."

"Even on a basement floor?"

"You're the only thing pretty about a basement floor."

Ophelia smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're sweet."

He helped her up on her feet and they walked out together.  
"You really should get some downtime, Phé, I hardly ever get to see you outside of school and inside you're barely conscious."

Ophelia smile faded.  
"I know, I wish I could but my Dad's still injured and things are only getting crazier."

"Yeah, you told me, the evacuation. So the entire Ghost Zone is coming here?"  
"Well, not _here _here, not Amity. Different portals are being opened all around the world and ghosts are going to be given temporary places to stay until the Ghost Zone is safe again."

"But still, that's a lot of ghosts coming our way."  
"Tell me about it. And I'm going to have to deal with it all."

"What about Dani, she must have to go on patrols too."

"I don't even know. With our luck, she'll be sent to the fours corners of the Earth for some ridiculous Warden thing."  
Owen squeezed her hand.

"What about us, then?"

That question had been in his mind ever since they became a couple. She was always being called away for some ghost fighting thing, leaving him alone and waiting for her return. She barely had time for school, let alone for him. And because of this they had never gone on their first date, or even had their first kiss.  
Ophelia's thumb rubbed his hand.  
"Nothing's going to happen to us. I'll find a way to make more time, trust me."

Owen smiled.  
"There you guys are."

Trix found them as they were leaving the staircase and entered the halls. She was happy to see them, eager even.  
"What were you two doing down there? If you wanted to make out, I heard under the bleachers is a good place."

Owen saw a little bit of opacity leave Ophelia, making it hard to see the flush of her cheeks. He couldn't help but think of how cute she was when she felt embarrassed.

"It wasn't that, Trix. I just fell asleep in class and phased through the floor. Owen came down to get me."

Tris smiled at him.

"Well, aren't you the white knight," she said with a playful push on his shoulder. "You two are just the cutest thing. I hope you don't mind, Owen, but I need to borrow Phé for a bit after school."  
Before he could respond, Ophelia spoke for him.  
"What do you need?"  
Trix quickly scanned their surroundings. Only a handful of people knew that Trix was a ghost, and in fear of getting into serious trouble, these handful of people would like to keep it that way. Sometimes, Owen wondered what would happen if the school found out that one of their students enrolled post-mortem. The most likely result to him was that they would throw her out, a lesser option was getting the police involved.

"Okay," Trix said, breaking his train of thought. "So you know how all the ghosts are getting relocated today, right?"  
Ophelia's eyelids dropped to an annoyed glare.  
"I think I've heard more about it than I ever wanted to."  
"Well, I found this place in town to stay in, and I was wondering if you can help me move into it after school today. Your little talents with portals would certainly help me big time."  
"Hey, if you needed someone to help you move, why don't I help." Owen offered.

Trix looked at him with disbelief.

"Really, you wouldn't mind helping?"

"Of course not, anything to help a friend." Leaning slightly towards Ophelia, he made sure to add, "And to spend what little time I can get with my girlfriend." He could see her smile a little at that.

Trix smiled.  
"Oh, thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me."  
"Not at all, Trix," Ophelia said. "So where is this place?"

* * *

"I don't know what's more unbelievable: the fact that the owners let you live here or the fact you _want _to live here."

To Ophelia's surprise, Trix had led her and Owen to the Presto Theatre.

"What? I think it's nice." Trix argued. "You have to admit it feels quite a bit like me."  
"Well, yes, but it's also half burned."

"And wasn't the last time you were here you were held captive by a magician guy or something?" Owen added as he and Ophelia were moving a sofa through a portal in the middle of the stage.  
"Yes, but it was also the time I was freed and met two of my best friends- Oops"  
Trix dropped a box she was carrying through the portal. When it hit the ground, the box opened and a flock of doves fluttered out.  
"Huh, I thought these were books." She mused, "I must've labeled the boxes wrong."  
"Owen has a point," Ophelia said, "Aren't you worried that this place will bring bad memories?"  
Trix gave them both a look that was somewhere between bemused and disappointed.  
"You know, I expected that reaction from Owen because he's a mere mortal but I'm surprised to hear it from you. I'm a ghost. Ghosts haunt places, not the other way around. It is silly to dwell in the past if I have already received closure."  
"Alright then, as long as you're okay with it."  
Ophelia and Owen set the sofa down and sat on it for a moment's break. One of the doves landed on the back of the sofa, Ophelia offered it her hand to perch on and it took it gladly. As she stroked the bird's feathers, she continued her questions.

"So what exactly is this living arrangement? Em said this place is supposed to be under repair for the fire damage and that they plan to have it open in time for summer. Wouldn't that be a problem?"  
"Not really, they finished with the basement level so I can place all my stuff there. And I spend eight hours a day with you guys at school…more like ten, so I'm out of the way for most of the construction."

"Then it's set."  
Owen walked back through the portal and into Trix's home realm.  
"Hey, if that other box says 'books' then would this box labeled 'doves' be filled with-"

Another flock of doves flew in through the portal and dispersed across the theatre. White feathers fluttered down to the ground, some landing on, and through, the two girls.  
"Never mind."  
Ophelia and Trix giggled.

"We should better go help him," said Ophelia, "I don't think he's ever been in a ghost's realm before."

Ophelia got up from the sofa and Trix followed her into the portal. The rings came yet again to change her hair and eyes. It was starting to irritate her a bit, but she knew she couldn't do anything to change it. Owen was on the floor, completely covered in feathers. Ophelia had to choke back another laugh as she helped him up.  
"Why does she have to have two boxes of doves?"  
"I don't know, it's probably a magician thing."  
"I guess," Owen brushed off a good amount of the feathers off of him, but got stuck to his sweater. "Hey, could you phase these feathers off of me?"

Ophelia raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Because I'm not dead."  
"But you're in the Ghost Zone. Everyone can become intangible in the Ghost Zone, even humans."  
Owen furrowed his brow and looked back to his feather-coated sleeve. He shook his arm and the feathers fell right off it as though he wasn't there at all.

"That's so cool!"  
"Yeah, I guess it is. I'm surprised this isn't common knowledge on the Human Plane. I guess it would help explain why we don't get many living tourists in the Ghost Zone."

Owen jumped up and down and all the feathers fell off of him. He was like a small child playing with a new toy. Ophelia couldn't help but laugh.  
"Careful now, or you might fall through the floor."  
Owen stopped himself. He smiled back at her bashfully.  
"Right, don't need two of us falling through floors in one day."

Ophelia pouted with arms crossed.  
"Very funny" she playfully punched his arms, just for it to phase right through him. Kid catches on fast.

"Just be careful when you try to touch something."

Ophelia flew to the room when Trix went off to. She heard Owen call after her.  
"Wait, how do I keep stuff from phasing through me?"  
Ophelia stuck her head through the wall to look at him. She covered her mouth while she was thinking.

"You know, I never gave it any thought. I suppose you have to think yourself as a solid holding a solid…. Just don't touch anything fragile, okay?"

She pulled her head out of the wall and went to find Trix. She was in a room that Ophelia assumed to be the library from all the shelves. These shelves were now empty and their contents were packed away in boxes all over the room. She sat up on the table and went looking through all the books.  
"It's weird, you have these books and I've never seen you read one of them."

"I was born, raised and killed before the age of television. This is my form of entertainment when I'm home alone. This and the radio."  
"Who knew you were so big on the romance novels."  
Trix seemed to blush. She snatched the books out of Ophelia's hands and quickly packed them back into the box.  
"It was a phase, a five year phase."  
"Sure it was."  
As Ophelia rolled her eyes, she spotted a book high up on the topmost shelf. It looked thick and old from where she was.  
"Hey, I think you missed one."  
She flew up to that spot on the topmost shelf and pulled out the book.  
"_A Guide to the Ancient Realms of the Afterlife_?" She read aloud.  
"Oh yeah, I believe I got that the first year of my death. It's and interesting read, you can have it if you want."

Ophelia opened the book and leafed through the pages. A good amount of the old territories she already knew, or knew were far away from the boundaries of where her parents allow her to go in. There was on particular page that caught her eye and she left open. It was an illustration of a body of water, not unlike anything one could see on the Human Plane. The water seemed to have waterfalls as wells as small spouts of water similar to a man made fountain. Under this image was its name.  
"The Spring of Life?"

Trix flew up and read the book over her shoulder.  
"Oh yeah, that's an old wives tale."  
"What's the tale?"  
"You know how there is a universal belief of water bringing life and power? Well, this spring is said to be the basis of all these beliefs. There are many legends about it, most of them blatant embellishments, but the one thing all those legends have in common: anyone who drinks the water from that spring will be cured of all ailments."  
"And healed of all wounds?" Ophelia felt a pan brewing in the back of her mind.  
"Well, yes, I suppose so."  
"So if a person had something happens to them that, oh say, breaks nearly every bone in their body, and, hypothetically, this same person was exposed to something that causes them to heal in a slow, slow rate; then if this same person drank from this Spring of Life, then would all their bones be fixed?"  
"I don't see why not, but it's only a legend. I've never heard of anyone finding the Spring since I got this book."  
"But there is a high chance this place is real, it's at least worth a try to find it."

Trix gave her a suspicious look.  
"What are you getting at?"  
Ophelia's eyes flashed a nervous lavender, she reeled back some of her enthusiasm.  
"Nothing, I'm only saying this Spring is worth looking into."

Trix kept her look. She closed the book and took it from Ophelia's hands.  
"The chances of the legends being true are slim, but the risks aren't. There's a reason no one goes into the Ancient Realms, Ophelia, it's too dangerous." She flew down to the table in the center of the room to put the book away in one to the boxes. "Not to mention that the entire Ghost Zone is banned from the living and the dead since His Majesty has awakened from his Eternal Sleep."  
"But all the ghosts are gone, and the Ghost Zone is vast. I don't believe this King of All Ghosts can look into every corner of the Ghost Zone all at once."  
Trix turned back to her, a look of surprise directed towards her.  
"You're not seriously thinking of going down there while Pariah's on the loose, are you?"  
"What if I am?"  
"Then I would say you're either a complete moron or you have a serious death wish. You can't go there, not over some water that may _or may not_ exist."  
"Not even if it's for a good cause?"

"Nothing good can come out of this. Ophelia, you must understand, not even a _ghost_ would go on this search, and ghosts have nothing to fear since they're already dead."

"That's because they have no need for magic healing water. You ghosts regererate like that" she snapped her fingers "We humans take forever to heal. My dad won't be able to use his own two feet for a month, if he heals that fast. This water could help him a great deal."

"Not if you die trying to grab it."  
"I won't"  
"You will while the Ghost Kings is about. And if you keep talking about this, I'll have no choice but to tell your parents."  
Ophelia held her hands up in surrender.

"Fine, fine, I promise I won't talk about it anymore. You won't see me anywhere near the Ancient Realms, especially while Pariah's out."

Trix smiled victoriously.

"Good."

She stacked a few boxes and hefted them into Ophelia's arms.

"Now, let's get these things out of here and we can set these all up in my new home. I believe the modern social convention is that I treat you to some pizza when we're finished."

"Pizza sounds good." Ophelia said from under the very heavy stack of boxes.

And so that whole afternoon and well into the evening, she helped Trix move into the Presto Theatre. She said nothing about the Spring of Life, though a plan was coming into shape since she opened to that page. And though she said she would not be seen near the Ancient Realms, she made sure to smuggle the old book into her backpack without Trix, or even Owen, noticing.

* * *

Owen was sad he didn't see Ophelia at school today. He was relieved when Mrs. Fenton told him it was only because she was too exhausted. She couldn't wake up in time, she told him, in fact, she's still asleep right now. In a strange way, he was glad she missed school today. A day of sleep would do her some good, and even if she tried to come to class she would be too sleep deprived to function. Once again, he marveled how when he finally got the girl he crushed on all this time and he couldn't even enjoy it.

He thought of this while he was doing his homework late that afternoon. His headphones blared music into his ears that were one decibel away from damaging his hearing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flashing light coming from his window. He looked out the window to find the flashing light coming from a ghost ray coming from his girlfriend's hand. He put his headphones away and opened the window. She was floating outside his window.  
"Hey Owen, can I come in?" she asked him.

"Sure go ahead."

As soon as he said, she flew right past him and settled on his bed. He closed the window behind him and leaned on the sill.

"You feeling any better?" he was surprised by the amount of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm dreading going back on patrol tonight, though."

"Well, there isn't anything you can do about it, right?"

Ophelia bit her lip and gave him a somewhat mischievous smile. He had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to like what she was about to say.  
"What if I knew a way to get my dad out of the cast tomorrow and we could spend more time together."  
"Then I would ask you where should we go on my flying pig for our first date." He said with a small laugh. She wasn't laughing back. "You're serious?"

Ophelia went into her backpack and pulled out an old book.

"I got this from Trix yesterday. Apparently there's a place somewhere deep in the Ghost Zone that has this water that can heal anyone of anything. I've located it on the modern maps of GZ, I just need to go there, bottle some of that water and come back to give it to my dad. He's all healed and I won't have to do these stupid patrols on my own."

He was speechless. She wanted to go into the Ghost Zones, a world that houses the most dangerous things known to man, right when the most dangerous ghost in existence is kicking the dead out of their own homes.  
"Maybe you should sleep in tonight, you're not thinking straight."

"I know what I'm doing. I've grown up in the Ghost Zone as well as the Human Plane. I've been to parts not even my parents know about and I know just what to do when trouble comes my way. I'll be in and out before no one will notice that I'm gone."

"Then why are you telling me this?"  
Ophelia hugged her knees, she met his eyes with a pleading look.  
"You're my boyfriend and my beast friend, the two must trusted people someone can have in their life. I want to tell you everything."  
Owen crossed his arms and gave his best suspicious/"I'm not buying it" look.  
"And?"  
"And what?"

"And whatever thing you want me to do for you while you're on this quest."  
Ophelia pouted a little.  
"You make me sound like a bad person when you say it like that."  
"Are you asking me to do something bad?"

"No, not at all. I just need you to cover for me while I'm in the Ghost Zone."  
"What? Why can't you just duplicate yourself like you did when your sister came to visit?"  
Ophelia's mouth twisted into a bitter knot as her eyes went to the ground, he took it that the reason was something she doesn't like to admit.  
"I can't maintain a duplicate while in another dimension, it'll evaporate the moment I walk through a portal." He must have given her a look, because when she looked back up to him she had a looked of her own. "What? Duplication is hard."

Owen waved it off.

"Okay, what am I supposed to tell your parents when they notice you're not around?"

"If my parents ask where I am, tell them I stayed in after school to make up for a test. If any of our friends ask, tell them that I headed home to get some rest before I go on patrol. I know lying is bad and everything, but it's not the absolute worst thing in the world."  
"What if you don't come home in time for patrols?"  
"That probably won't happen."

"What if it does?"  
"Then pretend you're worried. Say that the last time you saw me was at school and you thought I was heading home or staying back for a test. Be worried for me like something bad may have happened."  
"I most likely won't be acting. What makes you think I'll let you do this?"

Ophelia smiled that mischievous smile again.  
"You said you'd do anything to spend some more time with me, and this is what you can do. And if you tell on me, they'll be monitoring me and we'll never have any time together. I just need you do this one thing for me, and then we can finally go on that date."

"If you come back alive. I read about the Ghost King and he's nothing to sneeze at. You're dad nearly died defeating him last time, and that was with a super suit to enhance his powers-"

"It's called the Ecto-Skeleton, and don't lecture me about my own family history."

"You're not taking this seriously, Phé, if Pariah finds you and knows who, or what, you are, he will kill you."

"That's why I won't let him find me. Once I get to the Spring and get some of its water, I'll open a portal that will take me straight home."

"But-"

Her eyes met him again. They sparkled like light on a rippling pool. He could see tears gloss over them. It made him feel uncomfortable, he hated to see people cry. Even Millie's tantrums made him feel uneasy, despite his knowledge of it being nothing.

"Please Owen, this isn't just for me. I hate to see my dad in that cast every day. I can't even hug him without hurting him. He's not meant to be so placid for so long. And I hate seeing my mom having to spend time off of work, on a job she loves almost as much as her family, to take care of the both of us. It hurts and it's all because of me. I want to make things right, just please, help me."

A tear fell down her cheek. That's when Owen knew she was serious about. He rushed to her side. He held her in hopes to console her, reminding himself of the times he watched his mother try to calm Millie down, and himself in his dusty memoires of his smaller years.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't worry, I'll help you. Please don't cry."

He heard her start to sob.

"Oh god, I can't stop."  
"Owen, is everything okay?"  
"Oh crud, Mom!" he turned back to Phé. "I don't think she'll be happy to see a girl crying in my room."

"My Dad would be worse if he found me in your room." She sobbed out.

"Owen, what's going on up there?"

He heard her steps run up the stairs. Panicked, He turned to Phé.  
"Hide!" he whispered. She faded away before him, leaving only an indent on the bed of where she sat. The indent soon disappear when, he assumed, she stood up. Owen rushed back to his desk with his homework and computer open. He looked like he was studying intently when his mother walked into the room.

"Owen, is everything okay? I thought I heard crying."

Owen turned around to see his mother. He tried not to look nervous, but had a feeling that he was failing.

"Crying? Did you check Millie's room?"  
"Millie's playing with Luci at the Yume's house."  
"And you can hear her crying all the way from across the street? Wow, moms _do _have superpowers."

I did not hear it from the Yume's house, I heard it coming from here. What's going on Owen, do you have someone here?"  
"No mom, of course not. You must have heard the show I was just watching."

"But you don't have a TV in our room."  
"Which is why I was watching it online." He gestured towards the computer which, fortunately, actually had a paused video open on it. His mother looked at the computer, he could tell she was convinced.

"Alright, but could you turn it down a little. It really sounded like you had a girl in here, and she was crying."

"Sorry, Mom."

As soon as his mother left the room and closed the door, Ophelia appeared once again. Tears still streamed down her face, which she tried fervently to catch with her long sleeve, leaving red marks around her eyes from the agitation. He wondered how she managed to stay quiet the whole time while his mother was in the room. She then exhaled with a loud and desperate gasp and started coughing. The sobs came violently and uncontrollably like a bad case of hiccups. She covered her mouth to muffle the sounds.

"You were holding your breath the whole time?"

Ophelia nodded her head. After a few minutes of crying into to her sleeve and deep breaths, she stopped.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay" he said, unsure of what else to say.

"You're a horrible liar."

Without warning, she ensnared him in an affectionate embrace. After a moment of dazed confusion, he wrapped his arms around her as well.

"What's this for?" He immediately worried if it was a good thing to say.

"Because you're a horrible liar."

* * *

Last night's patrol were just as bad as the one before, but somehow Ophelia managed to get enough sleep to get up in the morning and go to school. She only fell asleep one time during class, but her friend Wal was there to wake her up before their teacher could catch her or before she fell through anything. As soon as her last class ended, she stuffed her school bag into her locker and went to the roof. Owen met her there, wanting to see her off into the Ghost Zone. She took a backpack she stashed earlier today and spilled it's contents onto the ground, checking off each item she thought she would need before repacking it into the bag.  
"_Guide to the Ancient Realm_: check. Current map of the Ghost Zone: check. Bottle for the spring water: check. Bottle full of normal filtered water in case I get thirsty: check. Cell phone: check. Roller blades-"  
"Roller blades? In the Ghost Zone? Can't you just fly?"  
"But blading's more fun, especially in the Ghost Zone. – First aid kit with herbicidal antiseptic and ointment-"  
"Herbicidal?"

"It means it can kill plants."  
"I know what it means, but why would you-"

"Not going to explain."

When she checked off the last of the items, she closed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Despite her belief that nothing bad will happen, she brought her lucky goggles with her and now had them fixed on top of her head. Her hand glowed as she opened a portal into the Ghost Zone. She looked over to Owen, whose worry was written clearly across his face. Guilt held a tight grip on her stomach. She took his hands into hers.

"I guess it's too late to talk you out of it now." He said.

She took his hands into his and gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"Please don't worry about me, I've done a lot riskier stuff than this and I've always come out okay. I'll be fine, you'll see. I'll be back home at a blink of an eye."

His looked her in the eye, his fear and worries for her colored by his hazel irises. He took one of his hands out of hers and brushed her hair back.

"Just be careful, okay?"

He leaned in for a kiss. Her eyes flashed and, panicking, she took a step away, phasing out of his hands. Owen looked surprised and confused. She hid her distress with a playful smile.

"Save it for when I get back." She said. "When I've earned it."

She jumped into the portal before he had a chance to respond. She waved to him as the portal closed and her hair and eyes changed. She bit her lip. That was close, far too close. In all her time trying to get out of patrols to be with Owen, she didn't think about what she was suppose to do when they kiss. What would she see in him when they kiss? Would it be any worse than what she could already see in him? Something deeper, darker. An absolute, unforgivable invasion of privacy unlike anything she has ever done. What would he see in her? Some part of herself she would never share with anyone? A dark secret. A bad memory. The 25th. And even if he didn't see anything bad, how could she explain to him what he just saw? Could she trust him with something so close and personal as her insight, a power she wasn't even willing to tell her own parents? Would he accept her if he knew?

She shook those fears out of her head. Now was not the time to think of that, she could worry about it later when she got home. Now she had to find the Spring of Life and heal her dad.

* * *

The Ghost Zone was strange without anyone in it. Although she grew up scarcely seeing a soul in the infinite space that she considered her second home, Ophelia couldn't help but feel unnerved by the emptiness around her. She had always felt a sentience to this world, as if it were a living, breathing creature that everyone happened to live inside. But now it felt like she was in the remains of a great creature, picked clean to the bone by hungry scavengers.

She imagined this happening to the Earth, if everyone suddenly left. Empty houses, vacant streets, everything left undisturbed as if the person was just in the other room and will walk through the door any second and return to it. Absolute silence.

Somehow, even that seemed nothing compared to how the Ghost Zone was. She had never felt so alone.

Who would want to rule a place like this?

"It's alright Phé," she told herself, "The faster you find the spring, the sooner you can get out of here."

She kept reminding herself that there was someone else here besides her, and that she be quiet as to make sure that someone else could not find her, but she could not convince herself that there was anyone here.

She spotted something on a rock near her path. When she got closer, she saw it was a green skeleton, dressed in the armor of a Viking warrior. She landed on the rock to get a closer look. It stood still as if it were made of stone, and as her insight could see, it had the sentience of one too.

"Strange," she though aloud, "I've never seen anything like this before. What's it doing here in the middle of nowhere?"

She stretched out her hand to touch it. As she was just about to make contact with the skull, the eye-sockets glowed. A boney hand shot to her wrist and caught her in an iron grip. The other hand drew out the skeleton's sword and swung it at her. She tried to get out of the way, but the blade slashed he forearm. She shrieked out in pain. The skeleton swung at her again, and this time she managed to duck. It kept swinging its sword and she dodged every blow while trying to get her hand free.

"Hey, knock it off!"

She opened her palm and shot a ghost ray at it. She only meant for the blast to get the skeleton to let go, but instead the soldier crumbled to dust at her feet. She stood there in stunned silence. It took her a moment to notice that the skeleton's hand was still holding her wrist, with a good part of its arm still attached. She shook it off and took a step back.

"This must be one of Pariah's soldiers," she thought aloud, "which means there's more of him where that came from. But it looks like I'll be fine as long as I don't get too close to any of them."

Her arm started to sting. She shot a hand to her arm. It felt warm and wet. She pulled her hand away and saw there was blood on it. She looked at her arm. The skeleton's sword cut halfway across her forearm, but as far as she could tell it wasn't very deep.

"Come on!" She whined.

* * *

After she dressed her wound and wrapped in bandages, she returned to her path. She followed the map and the guide, getting momentarily lost here and there and just as easily getting herself back in the right direction. Most of the places she passed she recognized and it made her feel better. If she's been here before and survived, then it won't be long at all until she reaches the Spring.

She found soldiers everywhere she went, standing as idle statues no matter where she went. They were all dressed as warriors, but the time period and civilization varied between the skeletons from the Mongolian Hun to the Roman centurion. She made sure to avoid them, but it still unnerved her to see them. She couldn't understand how they can stand so still one moment, and then attack people in another. She couldn't understand how they could move at all without a hint of a psyche on them. It all left a chill down her spine. She averted her eyes from the cold empty sockets and kept moving.

Soon she reached somewhere that was only a blank are on the edge of her map. All there was on that blank area was a note: "Ancient Realms (unexplored)".

"Alright, so I'm halfway there." She said to herself. She put the map away and pulled out Trix's book. She flipped through the pages until she found a map. She found location and then looked for the Spring with her finger tracing the way she should take.

"So, through this Field of Tranquility, past the Fiery Mountains of Wrath, hang right of the Hopeless Abyss and on the other side of the Felicitous Forest is the Spring of Life. This won't be hard at all."

She snapped the book shut and entered the unchartered territories of the Ancient Realms. Just like the rest of the Ghost Zone, here too was deserted. But the emptiness of this place was held a different aura. All over there were buildings and relics of different time periods. It was like seeing ruins of ancient worlds pieced back together. There were no doors here, making Ophelia think that these empty structures are in fact homes to ghosts that predated the door-contained realms. Ghosts have been here recently; she could feel it. And like the rest of the dimension, they abandoned their homes in fear of the Ghost King's wrath. He must be something, she thought, to drive these people from a place so protected by it's own nature that no one ever dared enter it, not even to document it on a map.

Even here, the skeleton soldiers stood at their posts scattered across the place. Their presence did something to alleviate the feeling of loneliness, but replaced it with another unpleasant feeling. She felt like those sockets were staring at her, waiting for just the right moment to attack. This eerie thought helped her go a little faster, the sooner she can get away from these things, the better.  
Finally, through the dense trees, she found the Spring. It was the only thing the entire Ghost Zone that still held the liveliness she knew so well. All around the water was green with moss and grass, along with speckles of color from assorted wild flowers. The sound of the water comforted her, being the only sound in a void of silence. She could feel the water's potency as soon as she saw it, it rippled across the atmosphere like the water itself. It filled her with unbound glee. Her dad was going to feel better, she can finally get some time for herself, this was happening.

She landed on the edge of the great pool and sat down close to the water. She unraveled the bandages on her arm and checked her wound. It stopped bleeding a little, but it had yet to close. She sighed. How is she supposed to explain a gaping wound to her parents? As soon as they see it, they'll know where she went and tell her that the Ghost Zone was evacuated and she was lucky to have only gotten the one wound. She could've gotten killed or worse.

She looked down at the water and back at her wound.

"Alright, Spring of Life, show me what you've got."

She leaned over the edge and held her arm above the water. She took a handful and splashed it onto her arm. The water dripped a clear red off her arm as it washed away some of the blood. She felt a cool, soothing, tingly sensation across her arm. The wound closed up and got smaller and smaller until there was no sign of the injury at all. She smiled. The water works.

The tingly sensation didn't stop, and it started on her wet hand as well. The cool and soothing feeling went away, replacing it with pins and needles. Her scars crawled across her arm and hand, as if the planted they emulated were growing underneath. The wet skin burned, causing her to scream out. She wiped her hands and arm on her sweatshirt. When the skin was died, the scars went away and so did the pain.

She choked back the tears the pain created.

"Looks like the water doesn't only help people and I can't touch it, so much for being easy."

She went into her backpack, pulling out all of its contents.

"Of course I didn't bring any gloves," she scolded herself, "I didn't need them, it's not like the magic healing water burns like acid."

She spun the empty water bottle in her hand. How was she suppose to fill this up if she couldn't even touch the water? Can't touch the water. That's it!

She hooked her finger through the loop on top of the bottle's cap. Slowly, she lowered the bottle into the water until it was submerged up to it's neck. She turned her hand, and then the bottle, intangible. The water flowed back into the empty space the bottle took up. She made her hand tangible again, as well as the bottle. The bottle felt heavier when she pulled her out of the water, telling her that she had successfully filled it. She smiled.

She was careful to set the dripping bottle down onto the grass. She took off her sweatshirt and used it to dry off the bottle. She made sure that the cap was screwed on tight so not a single drop will spill and touch her. As an extra precaution, she wrapped the bottle in her sweatshirt before putting it away in her backpack.

"Mission accomplished." She said to herself with a satisfied grin. "Now I can go home-"

Before she took a single step, she was surrounded by a hoard of skeleton soldiers. No longer standing a stone-like vigil, these warriors were poised for an attack, brandishing their weapons with the clear intent to use them on her. Ophelia looked at them bewildered.

"After I get away from these guys." She said thick with disappointment.

_This is what I get for challenging the universe by saying this would be easy._

She charged her hands to make herself look threatening, her eyes glowed a deep violet to match.

"Alight, which one of you fossils want to go first?"

* * *

The walk home was the most stressful in Owen's entire life. The closer and closer he got to his street, the more and more terrified he became that he'll run into someone who will ask about Ophelia. _Just calm down, _he thought to himself, _no one will ask, stop worrying. _He played the past couple of weeks in his head, tracking when and how often someone would ask him about Ophelia. Since everyone knew that she was busy with ghost stuff, the chances that anyone would ask was slim but not zero. Someone would ask, he knew it, and he will have to lie. Maybe not, he can just say that he last saw her at school, which was true. What would she be doing in school so late? She needed to get some work done, she has been behind in a lot of her classes since her dad got hurt. Does he know when she will be home? He didn't, she wasn't so clear on it herself.  
Playing these questions and answers in his head made him feel a little better. This won't be so bad, he thought, maybe he can keep people away from suspicion until she gets home. If she got home. His mind immediately shifted from worrying over how to cover for Phé to being utterly terrified for her well-being. How could he let her go like that? She'll get killed before she even reaches the Healing Spring of Life Water whatever she called it. What kind of friend was he to just stand there as she walked to her death? He couldn't even think of what kind of boyfriend it made him to do that. He's definitely worse than Richard. All that guy did was alienate her from her friends, kiss another girl, and wouldn't stop calling her after she dumped him. Owen just let her walk off to the hands of Pariah Dark and agreed to lie about where they can find her body. He's the worst boyfriend ever!

"Hello Owen"

He nearly jumped when he recognized the voice. He felt like someone put jumper cables to his nervous system.  
"Oh, hello Mrs. Fenton, strange meeting you here."  
"Owen, this is my house."  
"Right, so it's not strange see you here."

"Are you alright? You seem a bit….jumpy."

"Jumpy? Who's jumpy, I'm not jumpy. I'm the exact opposite of jumpy, I'm super calm! If I were any more calm I would be dead!"

She looked at him oddly.  
"Okay…Anyway, have you seen Ophelia anywhere? She hasn't been answering her phone and I she should've been home an hour ago?"  
His throat was dry. He knew someone was going to ask him! He tried to act cool and gave her a shrug.

"Last time I saw her, she was at school. She has a lot of work to catch up with, after all."

"Really, I would've thought Coach Baxter would keep her in for extra practice. Doesn't your school have that big meet next week?"

His heart stopped for a moment. _Why didn't he think of that! _

"Oh, right, track practice. I meant that she wanted to catch up on her work _after _ track practice."

Mrs. Fenton's eyes narrowed on him. That couldn't be a good sign.

"Did she say when she was planning on coming home, or was she planning on going straight to the precinct to do her patrols?"

Owen shrugged again.

"Honestly, I don't know, she didn't tell me. I just asked if she wanted to walk home with me and she said 'nah, it's alright, I'm staying back late today.' And then I left."

Mrs. Fenton crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.

"Owen, you do realize that I spent the entire ninth grade covering for Ophelia's father when he went out ghost fighting, right? And that I catch people in their lies for a living? I think I can spot a cover when I see one."

Owen was trying not to shake.

"That's cool, Mrs. Fenton, but I don't see what this has to do with Ophelia."

"I think it has everything to do with Ophelia, and I think you know that too."

"I do?"

"Where is she, Owen?"

"I told you, last place I saw her was at school."

"Do you know where she was planning on sneaking off to after you saw her at school?"

"Sneaking off to?"

"She went somewhere she wasn't supposed to and told you to cover for her, didn't she?"

"No"

"Then why hasn't she responded to my calls?"

"Maybe she turned it off to study."

"She never turns off her phone. And she knows better than to ignore a call when she knows it's me or her father checking up on her. Is she somewhere dangerous?"  
"If you count the hands of Coach Baxter as dangerous, then yes."  
"Owen!"

Owen held his hands up defensively.

"Honest, I don't know why she hasn't called you back. Here," he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pushed buttons. "I'm writing her a text right now telling her to call you, see."

He held his phone's screen to Mrs. Fenton after he hit send. The message read out: _Ur mom is looking 4 u, she wants u 2 call her.  
_Mrs. Fenton looked from him to the screen and back.

"You think if she won't answer her own mother, she'd listen to you?"

He heard a faint ringing coming from Mrs. Fenton's pocket. She stuck her hand in and pulled out her phone. It was ringing and vibrating in her hand with Ophelia's name lit up on the screen. Mrs. Fenton pushed the call button and switched it to speaker so he could hear it.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom," said Ophelia through the phone. Owen couldn't help but notice how out of breath she sounded. "Owen just texted me saying you were looking for me?"

"Yeah, I was. You didn't answer my calls and I got worried. Where are you?"  
"Oh yeah, sorry about that. Baxter just put me through his intense runs and so I was nowhere near my phone for the past hour."

"You should've told me, honey, I was worried sick about you."  
"I wanted to, but as soon as my last class was over, Baxter took my phone awat and dragged me to track practice."

"When are you coming home?"

"I was planning on going to the library while it was still open to get some schoolwork done, but I don't think I have it in me to absorb any information. I'm heading home right now."

"Alright, I'll have dinner ready for you when you get home. You won't have much time to rest before patrols tonight."

"I know Mom, see you at home, bye."

The screen flashed, notifying that Ophelia hung up. Owen sighed in relief. Thank goodness she was alive. Mrs. Fenton still had a suspicious look.

"I don't know what you guys were really up to, but I'm too overworked with the office and Danny to go find out. As long as she comes home alive and without any legal trouble, I'm willing to let it slide. Just don't make a habit out of this." She leaned in slightly. Something about the way she looked at him made him picture her as a other lioness, preparing to pounce on the poor creature that was dumb enough to get too close to her cubs.

"You shouldn't let her go off and do whatever she wants. She may think she knows what she's doing, but in reality she has no regard for her own well being or how it effects the people around her. You better take care of her, because she's not going to care if she dies."

Owen gave a solemn nod and fix his eyes to the ground. He may not know exactly how true that was, but he had a good enough understand to wrack him with guilt.

* * *

She got lucky. She had just crumbled the last skeleton soldier when she had received Owen's text message.

_Ur mom is looking 4 u, she wants u 2 call her_

Mom must've gotten suspicious and he needed her to help. She should've warned him about Mom. She can get anything past Dad, but Mom was impossible. And if she couldn't get anything past her, she can just imagine how bad it was for Owen.

She could tell from Mom's tone that she wasn't buying any of it, but the urgency of her voice when she wanted her home made her think she could get away with sneaking off if she got home safe. One could hope.

She checked her backpack one last time, making sure the bottle was sealed tight and still wrapped inside her sweatshirt. The last thing she needs is for the water to leak on her. Everything was where it should be, not a dent or crack in sight. Relieved, she closed her bag and went on her way.

"Okay, so that wasn't as I thought it would be, but otherwise this was a piece of ca-"

Something appeared in front of her out of nowhere. She bumped into it before she became aware of its presence. She took a step back and looked at what the object was. It was a leg. A very large, trunk like muscular leg adorned in a boot and some black material akin to medieval armor. She followed the leg up to a set of hips with a sword and a pair of gloved hands fixed to them; to a torso with a cape fixed over the plated shoulder by two green skulls; and finally to a head with an unhappy looking stone face. This head had bright green hair falling down behind it and a pair of horns with one of them broken off halfway. The face was pure white with black marks painted at the chin and over the one good, pure green eye. The other eye had a black patch over it that did nothing to hide the heinous scar running down the side of his face. Even with only one eye, he stared down at her with such malice that she felt like he was staring down at her in her grave. She did not need to be told who this ghost was, even without seeing his likeness and heard his story growing up, she knew who this was.  
"What is this? A child? Coming across these lands alone?" his voice boomed down to her, "Do you not know these lands are _mine_?"  
Ophelia's eyes flashed a pale lavender. She swallowed air.

"You must be the Ghost King," she squeaked, "um, heh heh, you are a lot bigger than I imagined. I, um, I mean no offense by my presence, your Majesty, I just…got a little lost. You know those portals, always popping up at the most inopportune moments."  
As she spoke, her hand glowed behind her back. A portal opened behind her and she drifted towards it.

"But you know, it's getting kind of late, and my folks are probably worried, so I'll just get out of your hair."

The Ghost King sneered. His hand glowed red. The edges of the portal changed from purple to red. Just as Ophelia was about to go through, the portal evaporated. She looked around the dissolving red mist swirling around her in wide-eyed surprise.

"Did you just close my portal?"

"No one leaves my kingdom unless it is at my word." He grabbed her, making her feel like a Barbie doll in a child's grasp by how large he was in proportion to him. He dragged her closer to his face to get a closer look at her.

"There's something about you that seems familiar… have we met before?"

Ophelia's eyes dimmed.

"Nope, never, haven't seen you before ever in my afterlife. You must be thinking about someone else who has absolutely no relation to me whatsoever."

"Regardless, you have trespassed my lands and disarmed my guards. You shall have to receive the full punishment for your crimes."

"And what's that? A million years in the royal dungeon?"  
"Execution"

Ophelia cocked her head to the side with a querulous expression.

"I never exactly got that. I mean, we're already ghosts, we can't exactly die all over again. And yet you guys have execution on the table. Does it mean something else here, like you are put through so much pain that you wish you were human so you can die or something?"

The Ghost King smiled at her menacingly. He held up his free hand to her eye level as it glowed a heinous blood red.

"You shall see soon enough."

Ophelia looked at the hands with panicked wide eyes.

"I'd rather not."

She phased through his hand and flew away like a bullet from a gun. The Ghost King looked at his empty hand in shock. That shock turned into anger and his hand curled into a glowing red fist.

"You are not getting away from me that easily, child!" he shouted after her.

Ophelia couldn't really hear him, she was flying at top speed to get away. When she felt like she got far enough, she tried to open a portal. She could barely get a pinhole into the fabric of the dimension without it dissolving into a red mist.

"Oh no, oh no! Why can't I open this!"  
Did she hear it or did she feel it coming? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she dodged the Ghost King's ray just in time.

"Ye shall not escape my wrath that easily, child. No one leaves the Ghost King unless it is by my will."

Ophelia sped off panicking. She found a cavern within a floating rock and dove in like a rabbit scurrying away from a predator. When she was sure his Majesty did not know where she was, she let out a sigh of relief.

"How am I supposed to get home without a portal?...Home. That's it! My home realm! If I can make it there, I can use it to get back to the Human Plane."  
She flew outside the cavern and checked if the Ghost King was anywhere nearby. She shut her eyes and scanned the area as far as her insight could stretch. Once she saw the coast was clear, she turned herself invisible and flew off. She knew that she could easily be spotted, invisible or no, especially by a ghost that could disable her to open a portal and construct a skeleton army, but it gave her a little comfort that at least she made herself a little difficult to spot. She felt him getting close, and it made her go faster. She could see soldiers as she passed by floating rocks. Some were already there, and some she could see were just appearing.  
Finally, she could see the door. Just a little speck in the infinite horizon, but yet it was oh so close. Right when she could see her father's logo on the door, skeleton soldiers blocked her path. She was surrounded by them in numbers she rounded off at a hundred. Two flanked her and grabbed her arms. They turned her around and forced her into a kneeling position. Her head was kept down and so she could only see the feet of the mighty Ghost King.

"You certainly are a slippery one, child, I will give you that. If I were a kind king, I would commemorate your efforts with a lighter punishment, but I am not a kind king. I am the King of All Ghosts, no one defies me and survives to speak of it."  
Despite the urgency of the situation, she couldn't keep herself from smiling at that.

"Nobody? Not even Danny Phantom?"

She felt the anger radiate off him like heat and light off the sun.

"That boy shall feel my wrath soon enough, slowly and painfully! It shall be a mercy to him if he shared your fate."

She looked up and saw the Ghost King's hands glowing red. She turned slightly to look for the door. There it was so close yet just out of her reach.

"Any final words, girl?" said the Ghost King.

She looked back to him.  
"As much as I would like to be one of you examples, I'm running late for dinner."

The Ghost King shot at her. She phased of the soldiers grip and got out of the way just in time. He kept shooting at her, and she kept on dodging them with a good amount of the soldiers taken out by the blasts. She zig-zagged her way to the door to her realm. She went in and locked the door behind her, the realm helping her by adding a few more locks to the door. She pressed her backs to the door as she tried to calm down from the shock. The attempt failed, however, when a great force knock against the door and threw her to the ground.  
"You either come out and face you obliteration with honor, or I will destroy you inside your own home."

She picked herself up from the ground and backed away.  
"Me and my big stinking mouth." She thought aloud.

There was a banging at the door. She thought the next knock would smash the door right off its hinges. Out of nowhere, the banging stopped. Ophelia did not know what to make of that moment of peace. She wasn't going to take any chances. On the other side of the realm was a door that connected to her house on the Human Plane, She can make it there in no time flat.

"Very well then, if you want to die like a rat in an old house, so be it."

Ophelia nearly fell over by how hard the ground shook under her feet. She heard the walls crack and pieces of the ceilings fall. The panic urged her to run faster but support beams and other constructs were falling in her path. She turned herself intangible to run through the rubble. When the floor started falling through, she gave up her legs and started to fly. When she reached the door, the was barely anything left on her realm that was still standing. She was about to go in but she suddenly noticed the missing weight. Her backpack. It must've fallen off of her somewhere. She can't go home without the water, not when she's nearly getting killed over it.

She took a deep breath, put her lucky goggles over her eyes, and went back to the collapsing realm to find her backpack.

* * *

Sam invited Owen over for dinner. Of course he would decline the offer, saying that his parents would be worried about him, which is why she already got Mrs. Dodgeson's approval before she asked him.

"I wouldn't want to bother you."  
"Nonsense, I always make more food than we need so you're no burden at all. And besides, it's about time I got to know you, what with you dating my daughter and all."

It was true. She and Danny have been planning to get to know Owen ever since he and Ophelia went on their first date. She knew a good amount about him from his little visits to the house before they started dating, and she heard a lot about him from his mother, but that doesn't mean they couldn't sit down and have a decent chat.

"Are you sure Ophelia would be okay with this?"  
"Of course she would, why would she not? It's just a nice quiet dinner between you, her, and me, it's not like the two of you have anything to hide from me or anything."

He laughed nervously.

"Yeah, right."

"Hopefully she won't be too long getting home from _school_, then we would have to talk. I nice, long, excruciating talk."

The poor boy was sweating now. At least Ophelia won't have to worry about this one lying to her, he's horrible at it. She can see through him like cellophane. Maybe she should reel it back a little before the poor boy has an anxiety attack. But then again, what's wrong in a harmless little scare as long as it would keep him from letting Ophelia go off and cover for her? It isn't like back in her day when she had to cover for Danny when he went off to save the day, Ophelia wasn't a superhero. She was a teenage girl with ghost powers doing god-knows-what and most likely getting herself in big trouble for it. Usually, Sam was okay with her daughter going off to have a little fun, she never got to when she was little, but ever since Ophelia went off to face Vlad without telling her or Danny, and nearly dying because of it, Sam was terrified of what trouble her daughter was getting into and whether she would survive it. The law is already trying to get her killed with that horrible Bystander Contract, Ophelia should not help them obtain their goal.

The more of these worried thoughts whirled around Sam's head as she cooked, the angrier she was at Owen at letting her baby go off and get herself hurt. She could tell that whatever Ophelia was doing was dangerous just by how pale Owen was getting by the minute. He was scared for her, which terrified her. She could see his guilt too. He was beating himself up for doing this for her. If he felt so bad about covering for his girlfriend, if he was so scared for her, why did he even agree to it in the first place. Sam knew that she and Danny may be the only people that had any kind of control over her, so she gave him that benefit, but even if her couldn't keep her from going why can't he just tell her where Ophelia was so she can go help her? Why is he just sitting there, sweating just about every ounce of water and salt and oil in his body? Staring at his feet as if his shoes were made of gold. Chewing at his lip until they were bright red and ready to bleed.

_Just tell me!_ She thought, _Forget about getting yourself in trouble and tell me where my little girl it!_

"Alright, Owen, dinner's ready."

He jumped at the sound of her voice like it was gunfire.

"Thank you, Mrs. Fenton," he rattled out. It was some kind of miracle that he wasn't stuttering. "Where do you want me to sit?"

"Anywhere at the table is fine. But I need to go and feed Ophelia's father his dinner, so you can just sit there and watch a little TV if you like."  
"Thank you, Mrs. Fenton." He said with a bow of his head. Who knew fear could make him behave like such a gentleman?

"Not at all. Could you give Ophelia a call to see how far she is from, she must be walking around the world from the other direction to be taking this long to get here from school."

"Y-yes ma'am"

As she returned to the kitchen, she could see his trembling hand reaching inside his pocket for his phone. Even Jazz wasn't this bad at covering up back in the day.

As she set up a tray it finally hit her. What was she supposed to tell Danny? The doctors told her that the last thing he needed right now was stress. Any amount of emotional toll with making his recovery even slower and even increase the pain he's already feeling. She couldn't afford to add on to his existing pain, there weren't a lot of means to alleviate it.

Normal painkillers don't work on Halfas, their immune systems are very tolerant. Morphine at best works at well as a nighttime cold medicine. His parents had developed a special painkiller for him as soon as they made that discovery about his body and after a particularly gruesome fight when he was nineteen. After medical officials approved of this special drug, they only allowed him very little when it was necessary, fearing that the drug could become addictive if used too much and having not enough Halfas at the time to run a trial to prove it. And so any time Danny got himself horribly injured like now, they would only give her enough of the drug to keep him from feeling any great discomfort.

He's already worried about Ophelia doing these patrols without him, and he quietly muddled with the aches that came with his deep concern. He never told her but she knew, she felt the same way. But now she would have to tell him that she doesn't know where their one and only child was, that her boyfriend was downstairs may be the only person who knows where she is and how he's breaking his back from the burden of the knowledge and the responsibility of keeping his girlfriend's trust, that he, Danny Phantom, the Savior of Two Worlds, was completely incapable at saving his daughter of whatever peril she was in. The stress could very well kill him.

She had to tell him, though, she can't pretend that there's nothing wrong. Just as she can see his fears and worries that he tries to hide from her, so can he see hers. And even if this was one of the rarest of rare moments in which he could hide her emotions from him, what then? What was she suppose to tell him when she doesn't come home the next day, or the next? What would she tell him if her body turns up somewhere….  
She shook that thought out of her mind. _She's not dead,_ the thought, _just because you haven't heard from her in an hour – or has it been two hours now? – doesn't mean she's dead. Come on, Sam, you're stronger than this._

She took a deep breath and took the tray out of the kitchen. When she was at the stairs, she took another look at Owen. He looked like he was introduced to his own ghost. Somehow, seeing Owen so worried made herself feel a little better. Made her feel like she need to have it together so Owen can only worry about getting in trouble with her. She managed a smile and a confident aura as headed up the stairs.

"You should try to calm down," she called from the stairs, "Owen, you look like you're on death row."

"Yes, Mrs. Fenton, sorry, Mrs. Fenton."

Right as she reached the top of the step, the house started to shake. She dropped her tray and held onto the stair railing for support.

"Earthquake!" Owen shouted. He squeezed under the coffee table for cover.

"No, I don't think it's an earthquake. It feels like it's coming from the end of the hall…."

The Realm!

Sam ran to the door at the end of the hall, the door that led to their realm in the Ghost Zone. Like she thought, the shake was coming from the door, the wall cracking around the edges of the door. What was happening? Could Pariah have recognized Danny's logo on the door on the other side of the realm and is trying to break through? No, that can't be right. Only a Fenton could open that door. It was rigged with a special ghost shield so no one, not even His Majesty the King of All Ghosts, could come in uninvited. Then what was going on?

Against her better judgment, she opened the door and looked inside. The realm was collapsing. Everything was falling apart and crumbling away. The walls, the ceilings, the floors. It was like looking inside a house during the most devastating of earthquakes. Somehow in the darkness and dust clouds, she saw some faint light dancing far down the halls. The light got bigger and brighter until it became the shape of a person.

"Keep the door open!" shouted the light. Sam recognized the voice. She stepped back and left the door wide open. Dust clouds swirled into the Human Plane and something shot out through the doorway and skidded to a halt halfway across the hall. It was Ophelia. Her white hair was a sandy blonde from the layer of dust before the white rings turned it into a dull and faded black. The cracked red lenses stuck out from the dull colors that coated the rest of her. She was holding a backpack with broken straps in her hand, dust fell from it like snow. Sam lost her breath for a moment. She was alright, a little banged up and completely filthy, but still she was alright.

Sam could she Ophelia's eyes flash from under the lenses. She dropped the backpack.  
"Shut the door, shut the door!" Ophelia shouted with urgency.

Before Sam could comply, Ophelia raced to her side, pried the door out of her hands and slammed it shut. She pressed her back against the door and slid down. She covered her head with her arms protectively. Sam then realized that the house was shaking harder. Instinctively, she knelt down by Ophelia and held her in a protective and consoling way. The harder the house shook, the tighter she held onto her. Her eyes were shut, but she could see a light through the lids. She opened an eye to find red lights leaking through the cracks in the door. It may have easily been a trick of the mind, but it looked like the door was starting to glow red too. She shut her eyes and held her daughter tighter, she feared that she might be giving her bruises.

Suddenly and finally, after what seemed like an hour, the light was gone. And so was the shaking. Sam opened her eyes to see what happened, but did not dare let go of Ophelia yet. The house was more or less in tact. She could see the lamps in the living room were broken as well as the vases, the flowers strewn all across the soaked carpets. She saw Owen crawl out from under the coffee table, from where she stood he looked unharmed.

"I think it's over," she told Ophelia, "Are you okay, honey?"

She could feel Ophelia try to nod her head. "I think so." She whispered.

Sam let go of her to get a better look. There were no scars, not as far as she could see, so at least there are no severe injuries.

"How about you?" Ophelia asked her.

"I'm fine." She said automatically. At least, she felt fine. She didn't feel anything fall on her or cut her. She quickly checked herself to make sure. There were no cuts or bruises on her at all, just a lot of dust from holding Ophelia.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Sam then noticed the door behind them, or lack there of. The door was completely gone, leaving an empty wall behind. No one would've thought there was a door there at all if it wasn't for the rectangular outline made by the cracks. Sam touched the wall, needing to feel it to make sure that there was no door. Out of the corner of her eye, Sam could see Ophelia follow her arm to the wall and put her hand there as well.

"The door, what happened to the door?" Ophelia said with a slight panic to her tone.

"The Realm, our realm, it's gone." Even though she knew it was impossible, even though she had no other evidence but the empty wall to prove it, she knew it was true. The realm Danny had since he was eighteen, his first property. Their first home together, and their only stable home they ever had since the 25th, was gone.

She turned to Ophelia. So many emotions came when she saw her daughter's dirty and unharmed face, but somehow only anger shown through.  
"Ophelia, what happened? What did you do!"

Ophelia's eyes went to the ground. They then darted back to the backpack and she dashed towards it.

"I got something for Dad, it's going to make him better."

She unzipped the backpack and pulled out a balled up sweatshirt. Ophelia unwrapped it to reveal a metal water bottle. It was clean and intact, the polar opposite to the backpack Ophelia produced it from. She was holding it gingerly from the top, as if the metal part would burn her. Sam was confused.

"It's water," Ophelia explained, "From the Spring of Life, a place deep within the ancient realms of the Ghost Zone. All Dad needs to do is drink this and he'll be good as-"  
"The Ancient Realms? As in the most dangerous place that no one has been there in thousands of years Ancient Realms? Not even your father is dumb enough to go in there!"

"There wasn't anyone there, Mom, the place was dead. Everybody left the Ghost Zone and the whole dimension is asleep."

"That's because the Ghost Zone is too dangerous. If you haven't noticed, the Ghost King is free! If he found you, he would've killed you before he could find out what you are, god forbid if he knew who your father is!"

"But Mom, he didn't kill me. I made it out of his grasp alive and-"

"You fought him!"

"No, no, of course not! I fought his _soldiers_ and ran _away_ from him."

Sam was shaking with rage. Ophelia seemed to finally sense her anger. Her eyes dimmed and went to the ground.

"Do you _enjoy _tempting fate! Do you even _care _about how me or your father or _any _of you friends will feel if you got yourself hurt _or worse!_ Right when I think you have done the most stupid and reckless thing you could possibly do, you find a way to raise the bar! I was worried sick about you, I thought you died and I didn't even _know _what you were doing! Owen looked like he was about to keel over and die from worrying over you! Is being safe so boring for you that you have to find a new way to put yourself in danger now that Vlad is gone? I'm tired of seeing everyone around me get hurt, it's killing me! I just wish you could understand that and spare me a sleepless night worrying about your well-being."

Ophelia's eyes glistened, Sam knew that she was fighting back tears.

"It's my fault that Dad got hurt. When anyone gets hurt it's because of me. I just wanted to do something good _for once_, to make up for the pain I've caused. I don't like seeing Dad in that cast and you having to take care of the both of us on your own. I thought the patrols would make me feel better and that I'm doing something good, but all it did is made me feel tired. I'm not cut out for this hero stuff, Mom, I can't do it alone."

Ophelia lost her fight and the tears broke through. Sam's anger evaporated at the sight. She went up to Ophelia and tried to console her. Sam became very aware that Owen was standing at the top of the stairs. She gave him a look to tell him he shouldn't be seeing such a personal family moment. He got the message very clear.

"Um, thanks for having me over, Mrs. Fenton. I wish it didn't turn out so…"

"Just go home, Owen!" She growled at him. Without another word, Owen darted out of the house as fast as he could.

* * *

"…So the water worked like a charm, my Dad is completely healed. Because of that, I don't have to go on patrols anymore and I can finally sleep at night."  
"And all it cost you was your family's realm and you're grounded for as many weeks as it would've taken your dad to recover on his own."

"And I won't have my powers until after the time it would take him to complete physical therapy as well."  
"I would say that I hate to say 'I told you so', but that would be a lie."

Ophelia, Owen, and Trix were sitting at an outdoor lunch table at school. Ophelia had just finished telling her story to Trix and filled Owen in on what her sentence was. She flicked at her inhibitor cuff, keeping a tempo with the small clicks.

"Go ahead, laugh it up, I don't care. At least I get to sleep long enough to dream about having my powers back."

"And about the dates you could've had with Owen if you hadn't screwed up royally. Speaking of which, what happened to you. Aiders and abetters don't usually get away scot free."

"Mrs. Fenton called my mom and told her what I did. She just about blew a gasket. Now I'm grounded and have to take Millie to the doctor next week, and the dentist the week after that. And to top it all off, she locked all my art supplies away in the shed. I don't remember my hands ever being so clean."

"I don't think I've ever _seen _your hands without paint." Ophelia added, taking one of his hands to inspect. "Else I would've noticed the cute little freckles on the back of your hands."

Trix smiled, absolutely pleased with herself.

"Well I hope you two learned your lesson."

"Yes," Ophelia said in the tone of a scolded child. "Never go into the Ghost Zone while the Ghost King is around."

"When Ophelia asks you to cover for her, don't do it."

"I was looking for something more like 'listen to your buddy Trix, she knows what she's talking about', but that works too."

"Oh, yeah," Ophelia went into her backpack and tossed a book at her. "Here's your guide thing back. I'm sorry I stole it, but I needed it to find the Spring."

Trix picked up the book and put it away in her bag.

"That should've been your first indicator that your idea was bad."  
"Okay, okay, I get it. It was a bad idea. I should have let my dad heal on his own and sucked it up about the patrols. Can we let it die now?"

"You know, any other ghost would take offense to that term." Trix got up from the table and slung her bag over her shoulder. "I've got to get to class. Thanks for my book back, Phé, hopefully we can hangout at my place once you can see the light of day again."

"Sure, sure." Ophelia said. She waved Trix goodbye, "Catch you later."

With that, Trix was gone. Ophelia sunk her head and groaned into the table. Owen placed a hand on her back as a comforting gesture.

"It's alright, Phé, six to eight months isn't s long. We can go out and celebrate our freedom then. We can starting planning it out now, if you want."

Ophelia lifted her head just enough to see his from her arms. He could see a hint of a smile from behind her arms.

"You shouldn't have to put up with me." She said.

"I want to. You're one of my closest friends, and my girlfriend, more than enough reason to help you when you're in need, and suffer the consequences whatever they are."

Ophelia's eyes darted back down to the table.

"Is it crazy that I don't regret my decision?"

Owen looked at her like had sprouted a second head.  
"I mean, yes, I do regret losing my realm, and yes, I regret being attacked by the Ghost Kind and his army, and I definitely don't like getting grounded. But getting that water for my dad to he can get out of that cast, how good it felt to see him so happy to walk on his own two feet again, I don't know, it made it all seem worth it."

Owen couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yes, Ophelia, I think it's insane. I guess that means I like crazy girls."

Ophelia pulled herself off the table and trapped him in a hug.  
"And I guess that means I like boys who like crazy girls."


End file.
